Edinburgh Festival Insider - Music Award 2009

Each year, the Fringe and the offshoot Edge Festival provide a wide range of musical offerings to cater for every taste. From world music to avant garde; classical to techno - there's something there for everyone.

The nominations for the Edinburgh Festival Insider Music Award 2009 are:

• Camille O'Sullivan with The Dark Angel. A mesmerising show and an electrifying performer, capable of hypnotising a crowd with the raw power of emotion.
• Patti Plinko and Her Boy. A bewitching set from Patti and The Boy, backed this year by a new addition on violin. Songs of love, death and suicide have never been so glamourous.
  
• Amanda Palmer. During her visit, the Edinburgh Festival seemed to turn into the Amanda Palmer Festival - her many and varied sets and appearances were always hugely entertaining.
  
• Creole Choir of Cuba. A wonderfully uplifting and accomplished performance that was the highlight of this year's World Festival at St George's West
• Brocante Sonare. Music and percussion created from machinery, chairs and other household objects by a talented troupe of French artists.

And the winner is...

Camille O'Sullivan with The Dark Angel

With a uniquely beguiling and emotional voice, Camille blows away audiences whenever she plays. An inspired choice of songs backed by a tight group of talented musicians allows her to fully exploit the power, passion and pathos of songs she cradles like children. A consummate performer, her line in between-song banter amuses and delights, creating little moments of relief before a song like 'Hurt' or 'Look Mummy No Hands' slowly draws your heart from your chest and into your mouth.

Music that can change you, and for that, Camille O'Sullivan is awarded the:

Photo of the Day - The Dark Angel

Camille O'Sullivan during her stand-out performance The Dark Angel at the Assembly Hall (click image to view full-size).

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Highlight #15 - Camille O'Sullivan: The Dark Angel

Arguably, I’ve saved the best til last. Over the past 2 years, Camille O’Sullivan has seductively slipped her way into the upper reaches of the Edinburgh Fringe hierarchy, first appearing at the Spiegeltent in 2007, then with a sell-out run at the Queen’s Hall in 2008.

This year, Camille brings her Dark Angel show back to the larger and even higher profile venue of the Assembly Hall, where she will once again bewitch, beguile and bemuse with her heady and addictive blend of talent and charm.

Although perfectly able to pick up the mantle of Piaf, Dietrich and other stellar cabaret chanteuses, Irish-French Camille has a style all of her own and a voice capable of whispering gently in your ear one minute, then ripping your heart out through your ribcage the next.

Her set consists of classics of the genre, with a heavy leaning towards the canon of Jacques Brel, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. Recently, she has also begun to introduce her take on more modern and mainstream gems by Bowie and Radiohead, meaning a Camille show moves gracefully through a set studded with some gems from the last 40 years.

Backed by an excellent live band and with a fantastic line in between-song banter and audience rapport, by the end of the evening Camille will have you in the palm of her hand (or beneath her sparkly red stilettos). It will also be an evening in which you will have been moved, entertained, and left stunned by the range and talent of one of the Fringe’s absolute and well-deserved stars.

Camille O’Sullivan: The Dark Angel runs from 6th to 31st August (not Tuesdays) at the Assembly Hall. Price £15.