Harding hits back in folk awards row

                                                                                                                                                                 

Mike Harding, genial host of BBC radio's flagship folk show, has reacted angrily to criticism of the station's annual folk awards, telling fans and artists who complained to: "Give up on your moaning and support the folk scene instead" and dismissing other concerns as "total bollocks". 

Mike Harding: not amused

Mike also denied that there is any "corruption" or "favouritism" in how the awards are nominated and judged.
Responding on Facebook to folk fan Julian Talbot's strident posting that the awards are "nowt but a load of shite", Mr Harding - who has hosted the awards ceremony for the last 12 years - said that the nominations are "nothing to do with me" but challenged Julian to justify why he thought performers are unworthy.

Meanwhile, FolkCast has received lots of messages, publicly and privately, from fans and musicians agreeing with our blog post which criticised the narrow range of the nominations and the opacity of the nomination and judging process for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, which have become the single most high-profile event on the folk music calendar, attracting widescale mainstream media coverage. Several folk musicians have told us off the record that they cannot comment publically on the awards as they fear being accused of "sour grapes", but that they feel aggrieved at the way the awards seem to constantly favour certain artists to the exclusion of others.

Back on Facebook, as the at-times heated online discussion continued and others added their criticisms of the award nominations, Harding's defence of the awards became more robust.

"You just don't know what you're talking about", he told detractors. 

And it's not just fans who are unhappy with aspects of the awards. Folk musicians have added their voices, too.

Bryony Holden, singer with folk band Tinkerscuss, wrote that "there seems a closed shop when it comes to the newer acts. There seems to be some sort of folk 'mafia' - the same names come up all the time and if you're not in, then you haven't a hope in hell of getting much airplay or bookings let alone awards."

Folk performer Buddy Freeman, of Cardigan-based duo Sandwitch, wrote: "the BBC is a closed shop and has been for years there is more Talent kicking around facebook and myspace that would blow away most of the nominated acts ... but the BBC won't even look at them ... its snobery of a high degree."

Twaddle

Mike Harding responded: "You are so so so wrong" and said that a lot of folk music found on the web is "self indulgent twaddle"

However, he also threw a little more light on the kind of people who decide who the awards go to, citing a selection of folk club and festival organisers, folk journalists and university lecturers who run folk courses as the arbiters of taste and judgement. Previously, the BBC has said that a panel of 170 "folk professionals" vote on the nominations and then the awards. However, the identities of people on the panel is kept top secret.

Clearly hurt by the criticism, including one post suggesting that people may fear that "big PR & record companies [are] buying the awards", Mike wrote: "No record cos or execs are allowed a vote the BBC screen them all. There is no corruption and no favouritism. You just don't know what you are talking about.

"I do this job cos I love it. 3 gigs at Sheffield City Hall would pay me more than I get from the beeb for doing it."

For the first time, the 2012 folk awards ceremony will not be held in London but instead moves to the 1,730-seat Lowry Theatre in Salford, which is alongside the BBC's new home in the North West of England. The ceremony will be staged on February 8th and, again for the first time, some lucky folk fans will be able to attend in person, with all the tickets being quickly snapped up at £10 a time within hours of going on sale.

Digging holes

Mike Harding then rounded on his critics: "Give up on your moaning and support the folk scene instead - the awards aren't perfect but the fact that tkts [tickets] sold out in 2 hrs means that there's a hell of a lot of people out there that appreciate what we're trying to do."

"You all remind me of the blokes who stand round watching workmen digging holes in the road telling them they're not doing it right. As my gran always used to say - "if you think you're all that good then do it your fxxkin' self." 

Several people supported Mike Harding's Facebook comments by clicking the associated "like" button next to his posts, but still others reacted sternly. Hugh Songsongwriters (which may not be his real name...) told Mike: "Shame on you Mike... have you lost all your Rochdale roots? As for folk talent you must have gone deaf as well or just to old a fart to listen."


EDIT: Our friend Emma Hartley has been in contact with Smooth Operations, the independent production company that runs both the Radio 2 folk show and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Her questions have unpeeled a little more detail about how the awards are run. Read her blog here.

You can see the thread on Facebook here and I've included five screengrabs of the conversation below, just in case any comments should accidentally be deleted in future: