WAM Song of the Year acclaims first indigenous Grand Prize winner

The WAM Song Of The Year awards on Saturday night achieved what organisers WAM (West Australian Music) acclaimed “a significant moment in the competition’s history” when the coveted Grand Prize was taken out by an indigenous act.

Rapper and social worker Beni Bjah took the major win with his song Survivor, a hard hitting look at the racial and cultural challenges being faced by modern day Australia. It samples a controversial 1984 TV interview with the late iron ore mining magnate Lang Hancock during which he called for the systematic sterilisation of indigenous people.

Bjah, who also took out the Outstanding Indigenous category with the song, posted on Facebook yesterday, “I’m still pinching myself this morning to make sure this is all real!”

The top win gave him $3000 cash plus prizes supplied by sponsors Albert Studios, Audiofly, RØDE Microphones, Perfect Pitch Publishing, Sonic Lolly, Berklee, Diskbank, Firestarter, State Of The Art Festival and more.

Born in South Australia in 1982, Bjah returned with his mother to WA when he was 12. Inspired by 2Pac and American hip hop’s revolutionary fervour, he helped form the group Life Kwest which released the classic How You Like Me Now? produced by Downsyde’s Dazastah, and pioneered the state’s hip hop scene. He took a break ten years ago to start a family before returning to music in 2012 and also became an indigenous youth worker.

Survivor includes raps as “They want to white-out our history, with no recollection just the white man legacy” and

“Don’t believe me? Ask Lang Hancock. Yeah, that’s Gina’s father … had a plan to poison the lot.”

Bjah’s win comes in the heels of WAM’s expanded indigenous engagement over the past year – including the Sounds Of The Goldfields and ground-breaking multi-indigenous languages Sounds Of The Pilbara recording projects.

Other winners of the night were:

Rock: Rag n’ Bone, Death Rattle Waltz

Pop: Joni In The Moon, War And Porn

Electronic: Tobacco Rat, Trenchtown 2020

Urban/ Hip Hop: Marksman Lloyd, Pause (feat. Coin Banks & Nic Di Lena, Prod. Sable)

Heavy Metal: Chaos Divine, Badge Of Honour

Punk/Hardcore: Nerve Quakes, Monarch

Folk: Galloping Foxleys, My Love Affair With Archer

Experimental: Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving, Shaking Off Futility

Blues/Roots: Katie J White, River

Country: Lynn Hazelton & Bill Chambers, Melita Station

World: Eastwinds, Blame Lulu Peanuts – Metsahallilau

Jazz: Daniel Susnjar Afro-Peruvian Jazz Group, Pius Bartosik

Schools 14 Years & Under: Madi Henry, Stronger

Schools 15—17: Charlotte Viney, With You

Outstanding Regional: Mitchell Cullen, Didge It

Category winners Bjah, White and Rag n’ Bone were among performing on the night at Fremantle’s B-Shed.

The awards jury panel included musicians as Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe, Mudhoney, You Am I, Pendulum, Lubricated Goat and Dave Hole. Also in the mix were WA stalwarts as Spinning Top Music, RTRFM, Pilerats and various media outlets as well as national input from Live Music Office, triple j, Inertia, Association of Artist Managers and BIGSOUND.

WAM’s CEO Mike Harris said, “Entry numbers were up again this year, and I know that judging was very difficult due to the consistently impressive quality of the songs submitted. WA has a long and proud history of contributing strongly to the national music scene and, when we see so many high quality songs as yet unpublished, it is hard not to see that continuing.”