PJ Harvey honoured with Dorset music award
Dorset-born musician PJ Harvey has been honoured by her hometown. She was awarded a special prize at the Original Music Awards (OMAs), celebrating the county’s music industry.
There would be no PJ Harvey without Dorset. Obviously, that is meant literally, as the singer was born and raised within a family that owned a farm there and was long integrated into the area. But musically, too, the sites and sounds of the county undeniably influenced her music, from the early musicians she met and played with through to the folklore traditions that inform her most recent releases.
Now, the area has honoured her for the way she keeps her home at the “heart” of her work. The Original Music Awards (OMAs) is an annual ceremony celebrating the people working in the original music sector in the county. This year, Harvey was given a special prize for her contributions.
Specially selected by the panel of judges, they praised Harvey’s connection to Dorset. “Whether it be using soundscapes of Dorset in her creations or writing poetry in the Dorset dialect, it’s very clear that she has always remained true to her roots,” they said during the announcement speech.
They also praised her experimental approach to her music and the way it inspires others, adding, “In this day and age of streaming music to the masses, as a songwriter and composer, you should never be afraid to be experimental, to try new things and continue to discover where your voice and writing can take you.”
Accepting the award via a video message, the two-time Mercury Award winner and deeply influential artist appeared genuinely moved by the award. She said that Dorset “shaped the person I’ve become,” as she recalled feeling especially “supported and encouraged” by the local artistic community in Bridport.
“Because of the encouragement I had throughout my education and education through the artists around me, I was able to believe in my own voice,” she said. In thanking the people who educated and supported her, she also remarked on the importance of the arts, saying, “Art is hugely important on an emotional level and also on an intellectual level of understanding the world that we live in.”
Harvey, now 55 years of age and often cited as one of the most influential rock musicians around with eight Grammy nominations under her belt, still lives in her home county of Dorset.
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