Frankfurt Music Prize
John McLaughlin
Frankfurt Music Prize 2012
Frankfurt Music Prize winner 2012 John McLaughlin
The Frankfurt Music Prize was founded in 1980 and has been awarded annually by the Frankfurt Music Prize Foundation on the occasion of the international Musikmesse in Frankfurt since 1982.
It is awarded to musicians, composers, teachers and personalities from the world of music for special achievements in the fields of interpretation, composition, musicology or teaching.
The winners are chosen from the fields of classic, pop or jazz and, in alternate years, the Frankfurt Music Prize is presented to an individual from the classical or pop (rock, pop, jazz) sectors. In 2011, the Frankfurt Music Prize will go to a personality from the world of classical music.
The Frankfurt Music Prize is worth € 15,000 Euro and is sponsored by the Federal Association of German Musical Instrument Manufacturers (Bundesverband der Deutschen Musikinstrumenten-Hersteller e.V.) and Messe Frankfurt.
The presentation of the 30th Frankfurt Music Prize will be held on the eve of the coming Musikmesse, 20 March 2012
John McLaughlin to receive the 30th Frankfurt Music Prize
British guitarist John McLaughlin is to receive the Frankfurt Music Prize for 2012. McLaughlin, who celebrated his 70th birthday this year, has been a dominant influence on the European and international music scene with his guitar playing for over 50 years.
According to the jury of the Frankfurt Music Prize, John McLaughlin is a musician whose work, “has always been characterised by respect and openness with regard to many other directions, forms of expression and cultures, and not by genre borders and dogmatism”. For the jurors, John McLaughlin is a person who can be described as a world musician.
About John McLaughlin
Covering a span of more than 50 Years, John McLaughlin’s career began in the sixties when he played with leading British blues musicians, such as Brian Auger and Georgie Fame. His debut solo album, ‘Extrapolation’ brought him to the attention of Miles Davis and led to his participation in the epochal Miles Davis albums, ‘In A Silent Way’ and ‘Bitches Brew’. Founded in the seventies, his Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti group were an expression of his orientation towards spirituality and Indian music, as were his albums with Carlos Santana.
In 1981, John McLaughlin joined forces with guitarists Paco de Lucía and Al Di Meola and recorded two albums – ‘Friday Night in San Francisco’ and ‘Passion, Grace & Fire’, both of which were highly successful commercially. John McLaughlin has published over 20 albums in the course of his career. With the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, he has influenced entire musical epochs and can be heard on numerous productions by other artists. Today, he tours regularly with his new group, ‘4th Dimension’. His guitar playing has influenced innumerable guitarists and his music has been a source of joy for countless people.
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