Best Belarusian albums of 2009 named at ceremony in Minsk

An awards ceremony was held in Minsk on Thursday to name the best Belarusian albums of 2009.

The award was instituted by a group of critics of the web site experty.by last year.

The purpose is to promote Belarusian bands and draw the public’s attention to the best and worst achievements of the country’s music industry, said Dzmitry Padbyarezski, an experty.by critic.

The critics studied around 60 studio albums released by Belarusian bands last year.

“I was most impressed by the debut albums of young bands,” Mr. Padbyarezski said. “The year was unusual. There were never so many bright debuts in the history of Belarusian popular music before.”

Dzmitry Bezkaravayny, leader of the project, acknowledged that there were few rock albums last year, but he still described 2009 as meaty.

Belarusian rock band The Toobes scooped the largest number of 2009 Experty.by awards for its album titled “Hello,” declared the winner in the Best Debut Album and Best Rock Album categories. The band also received the Prize of the Grand Jury from the jury of the four experts and eight Belarusian journalists, and the Best Album award from the four critics.

Atlantica collected the top prize for the best pop album and Mahilyow-based Glyuki for the best Belarusian-language album.

CherryVata received the Audience Choice Award that was voted by visitors of the experty.by site, and Port Mone was awarded the prize of foreign critics who represented neighboring countries.