Led Zeppelin and conductor share music prize
Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev were today named winners of the 2006 Polar Music Prize.
The award was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group Abba, through a donation to The Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Calling Led Zeppelin “one of the great pioneers of rock,” the academy said the group’s “playful and experimental music combined with highly eclectic elements has two essential themes: Mysticism and primal energy.”
Those features have come to define hard rock, the academy said.
Gergiev was cited “for the way his unique electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition; and for how he has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern changing times.”
Led Zeppelin and Gergiev will each receive one million kronor (€103,000). The prize is typically split between pop artists and classical musicians.
Previous winners include Sir Paul McCartney, violinist Isaac Stern, rock musician Bruce Springsteen, conductor Pierre Boulez and music producer Quincy Jones, among others.
The Prize will be awarded on May 22 by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf.
