THE 2003 Aurel Music Awards went to well-established Slovak popular musicians, as expected. Prešov's band IMT Smile and singer Jana Kirschner won the most awards. The prizes are awarded by the Popular Music Academy, which consists of journalists, critics, and music producers.
IMT Smile became the Group of the Year and their latest CD received the Best Album Award. Frontman Ivan Tásler, the Best Male Singer winner, did not attend the ceremony. As he said to the daily SME, he is delighted by the prizes but sees no reason to go to pick them up.
Kirschner became the Best Female Singer and her song Na čiernom koni, which she composed with Martin Wittgruber, was awarded the Best Song.
Blues harmonica player Erich "Boboš" Procházka, who became the Best Instrumentalist of 2003, was surprised to win the category, as "blues is not a popular music genre". Last year's winner of the Coca-Cola Popstar contest, Zuzana Smatanová, was the Discovery of the Year.
Juraj Kupec left with two awards: one for the Best Recording (Jana Kirschner - Veci čo sa dejú) and the other for Best Producer for the G8's cover of Money Factor's song Vráť trochu lásky medzi nás.
The award for Life-long Contribution went to legendary singer František Krištof Veselý, in memoriam.
