The Polar Music Prize 2013 is awarded to Youssou N'Dour from Senegal.
A West African griot is not just a singer, but a storyteller, poet, singer of praise, entertainer and verbal historian. Youssou N'Dour is maintaining the griot tradition and has shown that it can also be changed into a narrative about the entire world. With his exceptionally exuberant band Super étoile de Dakar (Dakar Star) and his musically ground-breaking and political solo albums, Youssou N'Dour has worked to reduce animosities between his own religion, Islam and other religions. His voice encompasses an entire continent's history and future, blood and love, dreams and power.
The Polar Music Prize 2013 is awarded to Kaija Saariaho from Finland.
After studying at IRCAM in Paris, an institution for electro-acoustic music, Kaija Saariaho has developed into a unique composer--a metal worker's daughter who re-examines what music can be. When she was growing up, the music that inspired her came not from the radio but from the pillow; that was where she found the music she dreamt of. Saariaho combines acoustic instruments with electronics and computers. She has written chamber music, orchestral works and operas. Kaija Saariaho is a modern maestro who opens up our ears and causes their anvils and stirrups to fall in love.
On Tuesday, August 27, the laureates will receive the prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall, to be followed by a celebratory banquet at Grand Hôtel. The ceremony will be broadcast live on national television (TV4). Later in the evening, a summary of the ceremony and the banquet will be broadcast.
Each recipient receives a total amount of 1,000,000 Swedish Kronor (SEK).
The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by the late Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, a true legend in the history of Swedish popular music. Stig Anderson was the publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA, and he played a key role in their enormous success. The name of the prize stems from Anderson's legendary record label, Polar Music.
The Polar Music Prize is an international music prize, which is awarded to individuals, groups or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music. The Polar Music Prize awards two laureates in order to celebrate music in all its various forms and to emphasize the original intention of the Polar Music Prize: to break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music.
The board of the Polar Music Prize Foundation consists of representatives from the Stig Anderson family, the Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers (SKAP) and the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM). The task of scrutinizing nominations and selecting the laureates is empowered by the Polar Music Award Committee--comprised of internationally renowned artists and musicians, as well as other key figures in the Swedish music industry.
Previous Polar Music Prize laureates have included the following:
2012, Yo-Yo Ma and Paul Simon
2011, Kronos Quartet and Patti Smith
2010, Ennio Morricone and Björk
2009, José Antonio Abreu & El Sistema and Peter Gabriel
2008, Renée Fleming and Pink Floyd
2007, Steve Reich and Sonny Rollins
2006, Valery Gergiev and Led Zeppelin
2005, Gilberto Gil and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
2004, B.B. King and György Ligeti
2003, Keith Jarrett
2002, Sofia Gubaidulina and Miriam Makeba
2001, Burt Bacharach, Robert Moog and Karlheinz Stockhausen
2000, Bob Dylan and Isaac Stern
1999, Stevie Wonder and Iannis Xenakis
1998, Ray Charles and Ravi Shankar
1997, Eric Ericson and Bruce Springsteen
1996, Pierre Boulez and Joni Mitchell
1995, Sir Elton John and Mstislav Rostropovich
1994, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Quincy Jones
1993, Dizzy Gillespie and Witold Lutoslawski
1992, Sir Paul McCartney and The Baltic States
