1999

Talvin Singh opened the show with his sublime 'Traveller' from his distinctive winning album, an acclaimed work that featured musical giants such as Ustad Sultan Khan, Bill Laswell and Ryuichi Sakamoto. As the decade came to a close, dance music remained in the ascendancy with Underworld, the Chemical Brothers and Faithless also making the shortlist, but rock music was also well represented with strong albums from the likes of the Manics and Blur. A strident new jazz talent also came to the fore, Denys Baptiste with his album 'Be Where You Are' whilst from the world of folk music, Kate Rusby burst onto the scene with her album 'Sleepless', released on her own Barnsley based label, Pure Records.