Music awards draw few nominations

JAKARTA (JP): Pop girl-group AB Three, Dewa 19 and grandmother Elvie Sukaesih, queen of dangdut music, have been nominated for most of the sub-categories in the upcoming 1997 Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) music awards.

Spokesperson for the AMI nomination committee, Candra Darusman, said that the awards presentation would be held at Graha Bhakti Budaya in Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta on Nov. 29.

The awards presentation was originally scheduled for Nov. 7, but had been "postponed due to the current monetary situation".

"It (the monetary situation) has altered and slowed down our promotional activities drastically," Candra said.

The show will be televised live by TV station Indosiar.

He said that there were categories which still had only single nominations or none at all due to time constraints in the nomination process.

"With selections made from singles and albums released strictly between July, 1996 and June, 1997, the awards presentation has no nominations for the jazz/fusion and contemporary keroncong music categories," Candra said.

The categories for the best female rock artist and the best male rock artist have one nomination each, with Inka Christie in the best female category and Heidy Ibrahim in the best male category.

Likewise, only Andre Hehanussa has been nominated for the best solo R&B singer category and the band Kelompok Topeng for the best duo/group and country/ballad categories.

The nominations made are based on three factors: originality of songs and lyrics, a single or album release between July 1, 1996 and June 30, 1997, and "purely Indonesian" musicians and music.

The show will give away 47 awards. It features 11 music categories, namely pop, rock, alternative, dangdut, traditional, children, keroncong, R&B, disco/house-music/rap, country/ballad and jazz/fusion. (02)