Wagner Takes Nordic Music Prize

She won the prize with When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day, which was released in August and made it to No.1 in the Finnish chart. Although Sweden had been threatening to make the Nordic Prize its own, having won with Jónsi in 2010, Goran Kajfeš in 2011, First Aid Kit in 2012 and The Knife in 2013, this year fellow countrymen including Lorentz, Lykke Li, and Neneh Cherry had to settle for being among the runners up.

Wagner, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Espoo, Finland, accepted the prize at a ceremony at the Vulkan in Oslo, Norway, March 5. The prize-giving was part of By:Larm, the country’s annual showcase conference, which this year attracted 2,000 speakers, panelists and conference delegates.

At press time the number of paying delegates hadn’t been confirmed, but the annual gathering looks set to break its record of around 1,500. One of the region’s leading showcase festivals featured more than 100 Nordic and international acts including AV AVAV, Coucheron, Cleo, Drippin, Dunderbeist, East India Youth, Einherjer, Lorentz, GEoRGiA, Gidge, Girl Band, Hinds, Karin Park, Novelist, Samaris, SOAK, Visuals, and Vök.

Conference program highlights included talks from Trevor Horn, Peter Jenner, John Morales, Viv Albertine, Peter Jenner, and Jo Nesbø.