Lucette van den Berg & Alan Bern are among The Year’s Most Exceptional Music Projects Nominated in
The 18th Annual Independent Music Awards

Lucette van den Berg & Alan Bern, Lucinda Williams, Steven Van Zandt, Jesse Malin, Jonatha Brooke, Heilung, Sofía Rei & JC Maillard, Sawyer Fredericks, Jake La Botz, Wouter Kellerman, Guy Scheiman, The Dollyrots and STORRY, are among The 18th IMA Nominees

New York, NY April 9, 2020 — The Yiddish singer, Lucette van den Berg and composer Alan Bern joined forces and created new Yiddish songs based on poems of four different Yiddish female poets from the period 1920-1970, Lucette van den Berg from Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Alan Bern from Berlin, Germany joins Lucinda Williams, Steven Van Zandt, Jesse Malin, Jonatha Brooke, STORRY, Sawyer Fredericks, Sofía Rei & JC Maillard, Chiara Izzi, Jake La Botz, Wouter Kellerman, Guy Scheiman, The Dollyrots and Sekou Andrews as a Nominee in The 18th annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs), the influential program for independent artists and releases from around the globe.

 

Recognized for ‘Afile‘, 4 new Yiddish songs in the World EP category category, Lucette van den Berg & Alan Bern are among the 400 artists nominated in The 18th IMAs by fans and industry, in more than 100 Album, Song, EP, Music Producer, Music Video and Design categories. View all 18th IMA Nominees here.

 

‘Afile’ is an EP with 4 new Yiddish songs composed by Alan Bern. They are originally composed for the project ‘Yesoymim/ Weeskes’, which was part of the first Yiddish Waves Festival 2008 in Leeuwarden.
For this project, Lucette van den Berg, singer and artistic leader of the festival, selected an anthology of 21 Yiddish poems.
From this collection, Alan Bern chose 4 poems from female poets and composed songs from them.
Bern’s compostions are masterpieces of their own, with influence of classical music, film music and yiddish-klezmer music.
The songs are composed for Lucette and you are able to find many references of her preference in music.
For example, in the song “Ikh sthey in der mitogstayt” on a text by Rachel Korn, the love for Bach can be heard in the final chords. These chords change in colour and position in the remainder of the song.
“In shpurn fun libshaft” by Rivke Basman, a song with a classical “late-romantic” character with its complex modulations. The restrained but palpable unrest also contributes to the romantic character.
“Afile” by Rachel Fishman, has the sultry, luxurious style of a Hollywood tango. Sara Reisen’s poem “Der ershte frilingstog” has been given a light, folky character.
The songs are subdued, melancholic, narrative, but never sentimental.
Besides Bern (piano) and Van den Berg (vocals), you can also hear Christian Dawid on Clarinette and Sanne Möricke on Accordeon

 

The Wicked Cool label (USA) leads this year’s nominations with recognition across 19 music and video categories, while its label head, Steven Van Zandt earned a Producer nomination for the album Richard and The Young Lions: Volume 2.

 

Other notable mentions include multiple honors for France-based metal label Season of Mist with 13 nominations. Canadian artist STORRY earned a total of 4 nominations for her debut record, Ch III: The Come Up which she wrote, funded and produced herself.

The winning projects will be selected by influential judging panels including: Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan, Robert Smith, Ziggy Marley, KT Tunstall, Dee Snider, Drowning Pool, Roberta Flack, Jaci Velasquez, Coolio, Joshua Bell, Beth Gibbons, Joe Satriani and nearly 100 more creatives, top recording artists and industry influencers determining this year’s winners.

Vox Pop voting for the fan-favorite Song and Video projects at https://fans.IndependentMusicAwards.com runs thru THURSDAY, APRIL 23RD. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The 18th annual Independent Music Awards ceremony originally scheduled for June in New York City will proceed as an online showcase for this year’s top-ranked artists and music projects. More details and a new announcement schedule will be released in the days ahead. 
View a complete list of 18th IMA Nominees and Judges at IndependentMusicAwards.com

Artistry.  Diversity.  Excellence.

Now in its 18th year, The Independent Music Awards, produced by Music Resource Group, recognizes exceptional work by indie creatives from around the globe. The planet’s most diverse music awards honor artistry and daring rather than streams and social reach – and celebrates everything that makes indie music authentic and unique.

This year’s Nominees were culled from thousands of Album, EP, Song, Producer, Music Video and Visual Design submissions from 73 countries on 6 continents.

Program honorees are established artists and rising stars: including: Killer Mike, Melissa Auf der Maur, Valerie June, Macy Gray, Jackson Browne, Pete Seeger, Flying Lotus, Lacuna Coil, Passenger, fun., JD McPherson, Team Me, Radio Radio, …And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Meghan Trainor, Lionel Loueke, Girl in a Coma, Apples in stereo, Masta Ace, Le Boeuf Brothers, Pokey LaFarge, Juliana Hatfield and many, many more.

More about The IMAs:

Facebook: Facebook.com/TheIndependentMusicAwards.com
YouTube: Youtube.com/IMABuzz
Instagram: Instagram.com/IMABuzz
Twitter: @IMABuzz