This year’s Eurosonic Noordeslag Festival got off to a great Irish start last night with Derry’s SOAK – aka Bridie Monds-Watson - amongst the ten artists presented with an EBBA by Jools Holland at a televised awards ceremony in the Dutch city of Groningen.

Unfortunately, the event – which isn’t broadcast live - was plagued by technical problems, with three of the acts forced to restart or repeat their performances. The night was saved by Jools Holland’s terrific sense of humour and the sheer professionalism of the artists affected.

SOAK had just returned from her Australian tour (which had been cut short by the Perth fires) and was one of the acts who had to play their song again. It proved no problem for the plucky 19-year-old Derrywoman who gave a stirring second rendition of ‘Sea Creatures’ from her Choice and Mercury-nominated debut album, Before We Forgot How To Dream.

Now in their thirtieth year, the European Breaking Borders Award celebrate the best emerging artists of the year who have achieved success outside their home country with their first international release. This is measured by sales, radio airplay and live performances at festivals.

Previous Irish winners include The Thrills (2004), Damien Rice (2005), Dolores O’Riordan (2007), The Script (2009), Kodaline (2014) and Hozier (2015).

The ceremony was hosted by TV personality and musician Jools Holland and opened by the European Commission's First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, who presented the Public Choice Award to the Latvian band Carnival Youth.

The EBBA show also featured outstanding performances by other 2016 winners: Álvaro Soler, Aurora, Kovacs, Oscar and The Wolf and Seinabo Sey. The other 2016 EBBA winners – Christine and The Queens, Robin Schulz and Years & Years - could not perform at the show because of touring commitments. In the upcoming year the EBBA TV show will be shown by several European public broadcasters. Parts of the show can be watched through the Youtube channel of the EBBA.

Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport said: "Music is one of the most dynamic cultural domains with strong creative and economic potential. With the Creative Europe Programme, which co-funds the EBBA awards, we are making sure that music flows across borders and that young talent finds audiences all over Europe."

First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans added: "We want to promote and spread our cultural diversity across Europe. The results of this effort, and especially the EBBA awards today, enrich the cultural landscape and the lives of millions, but also bear economic fruit, creating revenues and jobs."

The 10 winners of the 2016 EBBA are:

Álvaro Soler (Spain)

Aurora (Norway)

Carnival Youth (Latvia)

Christine and the Queens (France)

Kovacs (Netherlands)

Oscar and The Wolf (Belgium)

Robin Schulz (Germany)

Seinabo Sey (Sweden)

SOAK (Ireland)

Years & Years (United Kingdom)

Stay tuned to [link]hotpress.com[/link] for daily reports and interviews from Eurosonic by our roving reporters Olaf Tyaransen and Kathrin Baumbach.