- For the uninitiated, Gilles Peterson has hosted his Worldwide show on BBC Radio 1 for 12 years, showcasing the outer reaches of leftfield hip-hop, free jazz, African rhythms and soulful house, curb-kicking blues and Cuban heat, dubstep and whatever the heck else he fancies. His eclectic taste has earned him a loyal core of open-minded listeners, who seemed to have made up the bulk of the crowd at London's KOKO for the 2012 edition of his annual Worldwide Awards ceremony. But there was something bittersweet in the air this time round, as Peterson recently announced his departure from the station as part of a clear-out of the old guard (Judge Jules, Fabio & Grooverider) to make way for the new (Skream & Benga, Toddla T).
The running order was upheld with military precision, but with doors at 7 PM most of the crowd inevitably missed sets from Dimlite, Gang Colours and Hudson Mohawke, all of whom were headed for the exit well before 10 PM. Moving seamlessly from live sets to DJs, Kutmah delivered Brainfeeder flavours before the Los Angeles imprint was named Label of the Year. Other winners included Jamie xx for his remix of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," SBTRKT for his self-titled album and Machinedrum, who took home the John Peel Play More Jazz Award.
SBTRKT and Sampha have been performing together for long enough that it's hard to imagine the masked one doing a set without those heartbroken vocals cooing over the top, but the singer was still upstaged by an equally idiosyncratic pair of lungs as Yukimi of Little Dragon popped up to despatch one of 2011's classiest crossover anthems, "Wildfire." Julio Bashmore was handed the longest set, playing 45 minutes of unashamedly sexy house including his own "Battle for Middle You" (a Track of the Year nominee)—for those who'd been there five hours already, it was a relief to get into a groove for a little while. The 30-minute sets were good value for money but hopeless for generating a proper congregation, as queueing for a beer or stepping out for a smoke meant sacrificing most of a performance. Koreless tied the ribbon on the night but was robbed of a third of his set due to jazz-hoppers Bad Bad Not Good running over with their instrumental covers of James Blake and Gucci Mane. The Glasgow DJ still judged it perfectly, spelling out a 20-minute warm down with chilled out, chopped up UK sounds including his own "4D" and remix of Jacques Greene's "The Look."
The sheer scale (14 acts) and variety of the Worldwide Awards (plus the fact it sold out months in advance) is obviously testament to the continuing influence and revered status of host Gilles Peterson. Baffling, then, that he headed home an unemployed man. We can only hope that Peterson will resurface soon on BBC digital station 6Music bearing yet more overlooked treasures from the global underground.