Last night a strong collection of the driving forces behind the Ibiza and global dance music scene descended upon Pacha for the DJ Awards ceremony, an annual tradition in Ibiza since 1998. An hour before the ceremony began we wined, dined and caught up with industry friends, as for most in attendance there were as many familiar faces as teryaki chicken skewers (hard to say which I enjoyed more). Pacha was looking weird and wonderful, in readiness to roll straight into Ibiza Rocks House Monday nights as soon as the ceremonies were over.
Hosted by Des Paul and Lucy Horobin, the DJ Awards got underway just after midnight, dishing out the accolades to the deserving, opening with the Deep House award, taken home by Jamie Jones. Other winners included Mano le Tough taking out the Breakthrough category, Patrick Topping coming away with both the Newcomer and Track of the Season awards (for his inescapable dance floor ditty, Forget) and Luciano with the Tech House award.
Armin dominated the Trance nominees (for the seventh time, what a powerhouse), Hardwell snagged the Electro House category and MK landed the Producer award, and also my award for the best and briefest speech of the evening: “I make good tracks, not speeches…”
The International Festival Award went to Creamfields, Dance Nation award to Croatia and the best Ibiza Party was taken out by Pacha's own hippie love-fest, Flower Power.
Outstanding Contribution award went to the grinning DJ Harvey, and Ibiza's beloved Carl Cox took out the Techno award and International DJ award, receiving the uproarious applause in the room graciously.
Providing a mini interval between the announcements was island based duo Sadja Ran. Whilst vocalist Anne Rani sang pleasantly, no one could quite come to terms with the bass player behind her, rocking out the bass shakes and faces on a blatantly unplugged and silent bass guitar. Most unusual. Other oddities were Luciano's Morpheus from the Matrix style outfit and Patrick Topping's questionable choice to go velvet… ‘cause it wouldn't be an awards ceremony if we didn't poke fun of the fashion just a little bit!
Fast game's a good game when it comes to awards ceremonies, so the announcements rolled over at an uncharacteristically prompt pace for Ibiza. It seemed we had only just got through the last of the finger food before it was all over and time to work our way through the drinks tickets and onto the dance floor for Ibiza Rocks House at Pacha.
WORDS | Jordan Smith PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
The full list of winners and nominees:
ELECTRO HOUSE
- HARDWELL (winner)
- ALESSO
- AVICII
- CALVIN HARRIS
- DAVID GUETTA
- DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE
- NERVO
- NICKY ROMERO
- STEVE AOKI
- ZEDD
TECHNO
- CARL COX (winner)
- ADAM BEYER
- CHRIS LIEBING
- NICOLE MOUDABER
- PACO OSUNA
- RICARDO VILLALOBOS
- RICHIE HAWTIN
- SVEN VÄTH
TRANCE
- ARMIN VAN BUUREN (winner)
- ABOVE & BEYOND
- ALY & FILA
- DASH BERLIN
- FERRY CORSTEN
- MARKUS SCHULZ
- PAUL VAN DYK
- W&W
TECH HOUSE
- LUCIANO (winner)
- EATS EVERYTHING
- HOT SINCE 82
- JORIS VOORN
- LOCO DICE
- MACEO PLEX
- NINA KRAVIZ
- SETH TROXLER
- UNER
DEEP HOUSE
- JAMIE JONES (winner)
- APOLLONIA
- ART DEPARTMENT
- DIXON
- MAYA JANE COLES
- NICK CURLY
- SOLOMUN
- TALE OF US
NEWCOMER
- PATRICK TOPPING (winner)
- BELLA SARRIS
- CITIZEN
- JACKMASTER
- KOVE
- MIND AGAINST
- MY NU LENG
- SIDNEY CHARLES
BREAKTHROUGH
- MANO LE TOUGH (winner)
- BREACH
- DANNIC
- DUSKY
- KREWELLA
- MARTIN GARRIX
- OLIVER HELDENS
- OLIVER $
- SHOWTEK
- TEN WALLS
DRUM & BASS / DUBSTEP
- SKRILLEX (winner)
- ANDY C
- CHASE & STATUS
- KNIFE PARTY
- NERO
- NETSKY
- SUB FOCUS
ELECTRONIC LIVE PERFORMANCE
- DISCLOSURE (winner)
- ÂME
- BONOBO
- DARKSIDE
- GUTI
- KINK
- MATADOR
- RECONDITE
ELECTRONICA
- DIPLO (winner)
- HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR
- JAMIE XX
- JOHN TALABOT
- PRETTY LIGHTS
- TODD TERJE
- TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT DINOSAURS
- NIGHTMARES ON WAX
INTERNATIONAL DJ
- CARL COX (winner)
- ARMIN VAN BUUREN
- AVICII
- CALVIN HARRIS
- DAVID GUETTA
- FATBOY SLIM
- HARDWELL
- SKRILLEX
- STEVE AOKI
- TIESTO
SPECIAL AWARDS - winners are chosen by a panel of judges.
IBIZA DJ - IBÁN MENDOZA
IBIZA LIVE PERFORMANCE - MATADOR
IBIZA NIGHT - FLOWER POWER
TRACK OF THE SEASON - FORGET- PATRICK TOPPING
PRODUCER - MK
RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR - INNERVISIONS
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL - CREAMFIELDS UK
DANCE NATION OF THE YEAR - CROATIA
MEDIA - BE-AT.TV
CUTTING EDGE - NATIVE INSTRUMENTS
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION - DJ HARVEY
