The Aprize music award named star rapper Alyona Alyona‘s album “Pushka” the best Ukrainian music album of 2019 during the ceremony in Kyiv on Feb. 28.
Largely praised by both critics and the public, the artist’s “Pushka” (“Gun”) release beat over 600 albums produced in Ukraine last year.
The rapper wasn’t present at the ceremony, as she is on vacation with her team right now. So she sent her acceptance speech through a video message.
“I am very very grateful to all of you who listen to my music and support Ukrainian hip hop,” Alyona Alyona said in the video screened at the ceremony.
Ukrainian hip hop star Alyona Alyona performs at the Yuna music awards at Ukraine Palace in Kyiv on March 23, 2019. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Ukraine has several music awards but most of them acknowledge mainstream artists largely focusing on pop genre. Meanwhile, Aprize took on a mission of discovering the industry’s groundbreakers, supporting independent and underground bands and singers.
Aprize was founded by the online Radio Aristocrats in 2016 and has been presented annually ever since.
This year, the radio’s team listened to over 600 albums released in Ukraine in 2019 and selected 60 of them for the long list. Then the online audience voted for 10 albums for the shortlist.
The winner was selected by the international jury formed from the industry’s professionals including Oskar Strajn, a booker at the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) showcase festival and music conference in the Netherlands, and Tony Duckworth, a general manager of the PIAS Poland and Eastern Europe label.
Alyona Alyona outran nine shortlisted contestants including the legends of the Ukrainian music Boombox band.
Other acts on the shortlist were ethno hip hop diva Alina Pash, award-winning electronic-pop singer Ivan Dorn for his release with Roman Bestseller, freak-cabaret band Dakh Daughters, indie trio Tik Tu, as well as Krut’, Drum&Tuba Band, [O] and Electromed.
Alyona Alyona was a nursery school teacher until she made a breakthrough in 2018 with a daring music video for her hit “Rybky” (“Fish”). The rapper quickly rose to success after releasing “Pushka.” She was praised for her confident flow, frank lyrics and catchy beats.
Since then, the rapper’s career continued to climb, as she performed at Ukraine’s best festivals and toured in Europe. Her most-popular music video reached over 4 million views.
Last year, the New York Times named her one of Europe’s 15 “most important acts, musically and socially, right now.” She also won the German Anchor Award as the best emerging artist of 2019.
According to the Radio Aristocrats, among all the albums released in 2019, 220 were debut. About 21% of them were in the Ukrainian language, while 48% were multilingual. The music capitals of Ukraine, where most of the music is produced, are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro.
The leader of The Maneken band and renowned sound producer Yevhen Filatov presented the main award at the ceremony. He thanked all the creators who composed music.
“I hope that this tendency will continue and we will pick among 1,000 albums,” Filatov said.
The previous winners of the Aprize include ethno band DakhaBrakha, superband Maru and electro-folk band Onuka.
Apart from the main award, Radio Aristocrats presented a prize for the impact on the Ukrainian independent music scene to Braty (Brothers) Hadiukiny. The iconic band was the pioneer of Ukrainian-language rock that emerged in the 1980s, back when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
As Braty Hadiukiny accepted the award, one of its members, keys player Pavlo Krakhmaliov, said that they were impressed by the new generation of Ukrainian music.
“We need to learn from you,” Krakhmaliov said.
The venue, where the ceremony was held, Caribbean Club, also granted a prize to one of the nominees, the Krut’ band. They will get to hold a show at the venue and get full service for the performance for free.
The ceremony featured performances by a number of local bands and artists. The lineup displayed the diversity of the Ukrainian music scene with the acts in all kinds of genres from alternative and grunge rock band Teampache to Electromed, who blend hip hop, jazz vocals, and electronic beats.
