EU top of the pops

Music makers from across Europe celebrated a range of musical tastes and "the potential of the single market" at a festival in Cannes this weekend.

The 'Border Breakers Awards', launched by the European Commission last year are given to artists whose debut albums have achieved a large volume of sales outside of their home country.

This year’s winners include British singer Katie Melua, Italy’s Benny Benassi & The Biz and Germany’s Wir Sind Helden.

France’s winner was Corneille for the album “Parce qu’on vient de loin” whilst Ireland’s Damien Rice picked up a prize for “O”.

In order to make sure that artists from new EU member states did not feel left out, the judges also included a special prize for Polish group Myslowitz and their album “Korova Mily Bar”.

Education and culture minister Jan Figel said at the opening of the event that the awards “are a testimony to the diversity of European music and the potential of the single market.”

A spokesman for the commission on Monday said that he had “not personally heard of any of these artists”.

“It is of course useful in terms of European cultural diversity that artists from one member state are known in other member states – though there are exceptions,” he said.

“Some of them are better off staying at home, but I don’t think that applies to any of these artists here,” he added.

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