Oram Awards 2023

Emerging artists, composers, DJs and even instrument designers based in Palestine, Malaysia, Scotland, Wales and England are amongst those being honoured at this year’s Oram Awards, in partnership with The Radiophonic Institute, PRS Foundation and us, here at the British Council. Oram award winners are pioneers of their craft that continue to create their art in the face of adversity and hardship.

The Oram Awards celebrates women, trans, non-binary and gender expansive artists who are pushing the envelope of creativity in sound, music and related technology. Last year, the Oram Awards delivered a brand new category, supported by us – the Oram International Awards. The winners, Rani Jambak and FRKTL, received a special commendation bursary of £1,500 and £500 respectively.

Find out more about Oram Awards at hcmf// here.

Oram International Awards, 2023

Above: The Oram awards are back, featuring awards that we're delighted to be supporting.

We're delighted to be, one again, supporting the Oram International Awards. Here you can find out more about this year's winners.

Maya Al Khaldi is a Palestinian experimental singer songwriter currently based in Jerusalem in the throes of war. Maya’s work explores voice and the music of the past and present, working with archival materials to imagine the future. Her debut album عالم تاني – Other World was inspired by Palestinian folklore. All songs include either lyrics, melodies or recordings from the audio archive of the traditional Palestinian music of the Popular Art Center in Ramallah.

VIKTORIA and rEmPiT g0dDe$$ are the two projects of experimental electronic artist Victoria Yam. Spending her time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the producer and DJ is a staple of the South East Asian electronic music scene. She recently co-founded a female, trans and non-binary DJ collective with the vision of growing an all-female, trans and non-binary community of DJs in South East Asia.

Above: The winners of this year's Oram International Awards are VICTORIA, also known as rEmPIT (left) and Maya Al Khaldi (right).

This year's ceremony will take place at Kings Place, London on 19 November. The event will include workshops and panel discussions through the day, followed by an awards ceremony in the evening featuring live performances from a selection of this year’s winners.

The ceremony is open to the public and tickets can be purchased online at the Kings Place website.

The genesis of the Oram Awards

The Oram Awards are named after Daphne Oram, one of the founding members of the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The awards aim to build on her legacy. Along with other women of the workshop, including Delia Derbyshire, Glynis Jones, Jenyth Worsley, Maddalena Fagandini and Elizabeth Parker, Oram played a vital role in establishing women at the forefront of innovation in newly-emerging audio technologies not only in the UK but around the world.