2nd Annual International Portuguese Music Awards winners announced
The second annual International Portuguese Music Awards (IPMA) and Gala took place this past weekend on March 21st and 22nd. The two-night spectacular consisted of the IPMA Gala and the IPMA Show.
The IPMA Gala was held at the Cultural Center located at 205 South Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. The star-studded event included a red carpet entrance, cocktail hour, and formal dinner. This year, Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado was honored as the 2014 IPMA Person of the Year.
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, Morgado has become a familiar face to American audiences, both on television and on the big screen. He is best known for playing “Jesus” in the History Channel’s miniseries, “The Bible.” The Emmy-nominated show had the highest cable ratings in 2013 with more than 100 million viewers. Morgado is currently starring in the major motion picture “Son of God”, where he, again, brings to life the story of Jesus Christ. The 20th Century Fox feature film is currently playing in theaters across the United States and has already grossed more than $42 million.
Morgado was chosen as the IPMA’s Person of the Year for his extraordinary accomplishments as an actor. He also, recently, appeared on the hit ABC drama, “Revenge”. Morgado’s rise to fame has opened the door for many other projects. He was recently cast as one of the lead actors in the new science fiction drama, “The Messengers”, set to air on the CW Network. Unfortunately, because the pilot is currently filming in New Mexico, Morgado was unable to attend the Gala in person but he accepted his award via video.
The Gala included special appearances by all the 2014 IPMA performers, including Nuno Bettencourt, a Portuguese-American musician best known as one of the founding members of the band Extreme and guitarist for pop superstar Rihanna on her last four world tours. Marco Paulo, one of Portugal’s most popular and recognizable pop stars for nearly five decades was also in attendance.
The Gala included two musical performances: José Carlos from Lowell, Massachusetts captivated the crowd with some Fado classics and Michelle Ferreira from Long Island, New York performed several of her pop-acoustic original songs. John Gonsalves, a former probation officer and current sports hosts on WJFD Radio and reporter on RTP International, was the Master of Ceremonies for Friday night.
The IPMA Awards Show, itself, held on Saturday, March 22, 2014 at the Zeiterion Theatre in New Bedford, Massachusetts opened with a bang with the performance of the song “More Than Words” by Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt of the Grammy-nominated band Extreme.
The awards show also featured performances by several prominent artists. Nelia (USA), who followed Bettencourt and Cherone, got the crowd moving with her high-energy and thrilling combination of songs. Maria De Barros (Cape Verde) took off her shoes, went into the crowd and got the audience on their feet. Reno (Canada) rocked the house with a couple of his original songs, and Tony Gouveia (Canada) captivated everyone with this intimate Fado performance. Marco Paulo didn’t disappoint as he sang some of his biggest hits. He was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional 48-year career, in which he sold over 4.5 million records. Bryan Wilson & Sebastian Crayn closed the show with an electrifying performance.
Awards were handed out to the following artists (http://ipmaawards.com/2014-ipma-nominees-winners):
- Bryan Wilson & Sebastian Crayn (Romania) – Dance
- Joey Medeiros (USA) – “Música Popular”
- Josh Pereira (USA) – Pop
- The Procussions (USA) – Rap/Hip-Hop
- Ménage (Canada) – Rock
- Fatima Santos (USA) – World Music/Fado
- Fatima Santos (USA) – Song of the Year
- Sandro G (USA) – “Casal Garcia” People’s Choice Award
- Melisse Andrade (USA) – New Talent
The “Casal Garcia” People’s Choice award was voted on by the general public via the IPMA website. Votes from 66 countries were collected.
The two finalists for the New Talent category, Melisse Andrade (from Boston) and Rachael Stark (from California) performed live on stage. A panel of judges was present and selected Melisse Andrade as the winner. IPMA will award her with a trip to Portugal to make promotional TV appearances.
Ricardo Farias of Dartmouth, Massachusetts and Natasha dos Santos of Toronto, Canada co-hosted the show. The show was taped and will be streamed on the internet and televised on RTP International (RTPi) at a later date. RTP International reaches more than 20 million people worldwide. The dates of these airings will be announced on our website and official Facebook page.
Following the awards, the official IPMA After-Party was held at Trio Café & Lounge in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
For more information about IPMA, please visit IPMAawards.com. “Like” the official IPMA Facebook page for breaking news and exclusive content: facebook.com/InternationalPortugueseMusicAwards