The IMJA Winners 2021

Aida Baghernejad (Musikexpress, taz, tip berlin)

In 2019, I already said: remember the name Aida Baghernejad. If someone can make the unwieldy word "intersectionality“ glitter in rainbow colours as if Stuart Hall were a lesbian Asian woman and you were a Muslim gay guy who thought he'd lost faith in the power of pop cultural representation, we have a lot to look forward to from them. London-educated, Berlin-based writer and podcaster Aida Baghernejad has won our award for a piece of music journalism before. This year, we are honoured to present her with the Music Journalist of the Year Award. The millennial has since started the podcast "Pasta und Politik" and writes for FAS, taz, kaputt, SZ and Musikexpress about food, pop, feminism and politics. Sometimes about everything together. But what I appreciate most, besides her great texts, is that she actually does politics and doesn't just write about it. She is involved with the Friedrichshain Green Party, very pragmatically and practically.  I believe every word she says and will follow her everywhere. She’s also writing a PHD about street food and clearly positions herself as an anti-fascist. Congratulations, Aida, you Topcheckerbunny.

For the jury: Mascha Jacobs

Stephanie Phillips (Independent, The Quietus, Vice, Bandcamp ,The Wire, Buchautorin von "Why Solange Matters")

Stephanie Phillips is a freelance arts and culture journalist who writes not only about music, but also about life as a PoC in a society dominated by white people. In May 2021, the thirty-year-old published a book in the series Music matters and dedicated "Why Solange matters" to Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's "little" sister. Phillips, a Brit and Londoner by choice, has published in "The Independent", "The Quietus", "Vice", "Bandcamp" and "The Wire", among others. As a musician, she provides guitar and vocals in the three-member Black and feminist punk band Big Joanie; a solo project appeared under the name Stef Fi in 2020.
 
Phillips is committed to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQI community. She fights back against stereotypes and stigmas not only on her Twitter channel. In her life, everything is interwoven - and in her love of music she has found her calling as well as her profession. In Phillips' book about Solange, the author integrates the singer into her own life as well as the significance of other Black artists, including her own punk culture circle. With her call for freedom, Phillips provides, as the Guardian writes, "a vision of a new world that she hopes Solange would be proud to be a part of". As a counter-design to a world in which "black creatives are oppressed and racism is ignored in the scene".
 
What is so particularly touching about Stephanie Phillips is her authenticity and the closeness of her own life to the issues she addresses. What impresses me is her view of the bigger picture. As the daughter of a father who immigrated to Britain from Jamaica and grew up in a white British neighbourhood in the Midlands, she describes her experiences of being invisible in moving recollections - in a book about Solange Knowles! These recollections sound like a blueprint that can be applied to the lives of many people who continue to be disadvantaged by our society.

For the jury; Susanne Baller

Jean Morel (Grünt)

Thanks to his own media – Grünt –  Jean Morel has become one of the most important faces of French rap journalism. Grünt has various contents, from freestyle to interviews or even reports. Those contents have led Grünt to be an essential platform for the rap industry and rappers. Jean Morel is able to show us all the different aspects of hip hop culture.
Jean Morel was also really involved in finding culture-sharing solutions during lockdown. He hosted over 50 live interviews where rappers and different actors of the industry were invited to discuss various subjects. Jean was one of the rap journalists that kept the hip hop culture going during this crisis.

The French jury

Julia Friese: gedanken zum gegenwärtig*innen (Kolumne) - Musikexpress (10.06.21)

Her column "gedanken zum gegenwärtig*innen" (maybe somewhat translatable as „pondering the present“), which Julia Friese has been writing for the Musikexpress since March 2021 is headed with the following sentences: Our present actually seems to be becoming history at a later date. So it's time to take a close look at the pop-cultural present in this column. What is happening. And how and why is it all connected? This wild mixture of music, lifestyle, politics, pop and literature is always worth reading. That’s why we are not honouring a single text, but all the great texts from her column, which are also representative of Friese's other great texts and interviews. Julia Friese is an author and journalist. She writes for Musikexpress, Spiegel, Zeit Online, Edition F, Tagesspiegel and Der Freitag, among others. On the radio you can hear her on radioeins and Deutschlandfunk. And she is a mother and a musician. Congratulations from all of us straight from the heart.

For the jury: Mascha Jacobs

Amanda Petrusich: Genre is disappearing. What comes Next? - The New Yorker (08.03.21)

The classification into music genres is under criticism, Amanda Petrusich reports in March 2021 on the complaints about the Grammy Awards and quotes musicians who were unhappy about their nomination because they thought the category was wrong for their work. The "New Yorker" journalist explains why we are dealing with a problem inherent in the system with a ride through the music of the last decades: Genres are conservative because they classify music retroactively. A dilemma - because on the one hand we need them for orientation, but on the other hand we sometimes find them inappropriate. Half scientifically substantiated, half provided with mischievous side glances, Petrusich manages to find a conciliatory summary in an extremely entertaining way: Yes, we would all rather look to the future.

For the jury: Susanne Baller

Hugo Lautissier: Danser sur les décombres : les trois vies du B018 - Trax (21.02.21)

Last summer, the explosions in the harbor of Beirut took place near the most famous nightclub of the city. Hugo Lautissier decided to tell the story of this venue called the B018 and to write about the evolution and history of Beirut through the last 30 years. This paper is impressive by its writing skills and the subject is original and relevant.
While reading this paper, we discover a whole world we didn’t know about: the underground nightlife in Beirut. Thanks to the great work of Hugo Lautissier, we learn a lot about the remarkable spot that is the B018 and its history, but also the difficulties that the club is going through because of the economic crisis, the pandemic but also the political crisis.

The French jury

Diviam Hoffmann, Klaus Walter: Bob Dylan 80 - Mit Diviam Hoffmann und Klaus Walter - WDR3 "Open Sounds" (24.05.21)

Diviam Hoffmann (born in the late 1980s) and Klaus Walter (born in 1955) dedicated a two-hour radio programme to Bob Dylan (born in 1941) as part of "Open Sounds" on WDR 3. The occasion was the artist's 80th birthday at the end of May 2021.

There is probably hardly anything that has not already been said or written about Dylan. Everything seems to have been discussed and analysed. The programme by Diviam Hoffmann and Klaus Walter is nevertheless an enrichment. "Bob Dylan 80" is told from many perspectives and Dylan as an artist is the subject of a debate between young and old. For example, how does a young woman and music journalist react to a song lyric like "Just like a woman", which has always been contemptuous of women and degrading? Is it even necessary to comment on this in 2021 or is this 'yesterdays news'? What about cultural appropriation in "His Bobness"?  Bob Dylan doesn't give any ready answers to these questions. Rather, the appeal of the programme lies in the confrontation; the interplay of a younger, female perspective with that of the long-time, male Dylan expert. This allows the listeners to question themselves - especially when they might not know much about Bob Dylan.

Jury note: Bob Dylan is currently facing accusations of sexual abuse. A fact that was not known in May and does not play a role in the feature.

For the jury: Elissa Hiersemann

Carmichael Rodney, Sidney Madden: Louder Than A Riot - NPR (Podcast seit 08.10.20)

The authors of this NPR podcast manage to tell a complex story in a simple and powerful way. Arguing that the rise of HipHop in the 1980ies is connected with Ronald Reagan’s frantic „war on drugs“ and the subsequent mass incarcerations of Black Americans, Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael investigate criminal cases involving rappers. Episode per episode they dig deep into the backstories of shootings, convictions and confinements – the cases of Bobby Shmurda and Nipsey Hussle feature alongside lesser known but equally interesting examples –, revealing both appalling individual and structural injustices. They shed light on the phenomenon of so called „HipHop cops“ who specialize in targeting artists and analyze gang- and conspiracy-related laws that seem to disproportionately discriminate young people from black neighborhoods. Committed to investigating the issues from every available angle (while still acknowledging their own bias as people who identify with HipHop culture), Madden and Carmichael also reveal how the music business pushed clichés about gang life in black communities, creating and marketing narratives that promoted prejudice and contributed to shaping public opinion: rappers have been and often still are being used as scapegoats for crime. All the covered cases are different but the underlying issues are not. As „Louder Than A Riot“ demonstrates, life in America today is affected by discrimination and racism on all crucial levels: the executive, the legislative and the judicial.

For the jury: Christoph Lindemann

Wetu Badibanga, Kay Kagame, José Tippenhauer: “Masc’Off” (Podcast)

Masc’Off is a podcast about rap and masculinity. This podcast is hosted by 3 men that are part of the rap industry. What is interesting in this podcast is that Wetu, Kayitana and José cover a subject that is not yet treated by the media specialized in rap and often stigmatizing when done by people that aren’t part of rap culture. This podcast deconstructs different schemes that we can find in rap with the desire of not being judgmental. The aim is to point out issues within the rap industry and see how things could evolve.
This podcast questions the representation of men in rap music, through texts or clips where masculinity is a central point. Real work is done to challenge the preconceived idea that exists. Masc’Off is a podcast understandable by everyone with a great analysis work

The French jury

Lea Schröder: Täter an den Decks - Sexualisierte Gewalt in der Clubkultur - frohfroh (05.02.21)

It's not a nice topic that Lea Schröder has taken on - but it's an important one: her report "Täter an den Decks" (“Perpetrators on the Decks”), published by frohfroh magazine, traces sexualised violence in the Leipzig club scene. The way the author's own contribution gets out of hand and threatens to go over her head, because more and more of those affected are speaking out, shows what circles the misery is drawing: The sheer number of testimonials unmistakably announces a structural problem that can no longer be trivialised as "individual cases".

The feature comprehensively reveals what everyone knows but hardly anyone wants to admit: even in a bubble that presents itself as enlightened, woke and sensitive, sexism and toxic patterns of thought and behaviour run deep. However, the article does not only lament the deplorable current state of affairs, but tries to constructively point out ways out of the dilemma. All this, in text format as well as podcast, sensitively conceived with the greatest possible consideration for those who suffer: an impressive piece of journalism.

For the jury: Dani Fromm

Tracklib Sample Breakdown: Tracklib Sample Breakdown - YouTube (ongoing)

Rosalie Ernst: Serie Unfuck the EU - Europäische Werte und musikalische Wiederbelebung - Kaput Mag (27.04.21)

​The beautifully titled "Unfuck The EU" interview series for Kaput (Germany’s self-declared webmagazine „for bankruptcy and pop“) deals with European values and ideals in a pop-cultural context. Talks with musicians give us reason to hope that these have not yet been completely eroded, even if the opposite impression often creeps up on us. Rosalie Ernst's tête-à-tête with full-time pop singer and part-time activist Mine opens the round.
Although interviews are a tricky category to judge, because their success or failure depends to a large extent on the statements and the willingness of the interviewees, we think this contribution is worthy of the prize: Ernst defines the environment in clear words, listens, follows up in the right places and gently steers the conversation back to the topic of European politics several times. The result, a conversation about art, politics and attitude conducted at eye level, leaves us with the nice feeling that no one really has to be an island, but that the commitment of individuals can be part of a greater whole. More of this, please!

For the jury: Dani Fromm

Katharina Meyer zu Eppendorf: Musikfluencer - ZEIT Campus (05.08.20)

In her report "Musikfluencer", Katharina zu Eppendorf portrays an up-and-coming TikTok star named Falco Punch for Zeit Campus. However, she only uses his example as a hook to introduce the entire platform. She explains conclusively and comprehensively how the medium dictates the form of content, changes listening and viewing habits of its consumers and how this in turn affects the content ... As a reader, you find yourself in a rollercoaster of emotions, alternately fascinated by the mechanisms and absolutely disgusted by the calculations and the businesslike drawing board attitude with which "art" is supposedly created.

But because the author looks at the industry from different angles, her report ultimately paints a balanced, multi-faceted, fair picture. In addition, she somehow manages to cram her article with an incredible number of facts without making it seem like a demonstration of stodgy number-crunching in the end, and in spite of this, it can be read effortlessly and with pleasure: a real feat of journalism.

For the jury: Dani Fromm

Yannik Gölz: DOUBLETIME: Xaviers Armee der Finsternis - laut.de (27.05.21)

Yannik Gölz does not have to weave spectacular garlands of sentences to demonstrate his fluency and originality. He analyses and writes to the point, with a somnambulistic sense for the most concise wording; you can tell he comes from rap. This is also what he writes most poignantly about, but his reflections on K-Pop or Billie Eilish are no less lucid. A huge talent from whom there will hopefully be a lot more to read!

For the jury: Hans Nieswandt