Recipients of the upcoming NAMM Believe In Music Awards were announced today, and several of the recipients are deeply involved in the world of synthesizers and electronic music.
Each year, these awards single out individuals and companies who have dedicated years of service in the music products industry, and who have assisted the NAMM Oral History Program, not just by contributing their own interview, but by also helping the oral history team facilitate interviews with other important long-time figures in the music industry.
At the 2020 NAMM Show, the Believe In Music Awards will be presented to:
- Alun Hughes
- Dave Lopez
- G&L Guitars
- Istanbul Cymbals
- Mark Vail
- Michelle Moog-Koussa
- Mitch Holder
- Peter Giles
- Ralph Angelillo
- Steve Oppenheimer
NAMM will also award Leo Nocentelli and Stefano Trabucchi, who will be interviewed for NAMM’s Oral History program there at the 2020 NAMM Show.
Mark Vail (pictured) is a synthesist, author and electronic music historian. The author of the encyclopedic tome, The Synthesizer, Vail has written for Keyboard, Sound On Sound and Electronic Musician magazines and has written several previous books about keyboards, including Vintage Synthesizers & The Hammond Organ: Beauty In The B. (There’s a link to a great interview with Mark from a couple years ago at this link).
Peter Giles, founder and President of Giles, Inc., is a lifelong musician and longtime public relations expert. Giles has provided public relations, social media marketing, website and app design and other communications services to a range of clients, many of whom are in the music industry, incuding NAMM, the Grammy Foundation, Steinberg, TC Electronic, and Yamaha.
Steve Oppenheimer is a marketing and communications professional at White Dog Communications, and is familiar to electronic music enthusiasts for his years of work with Remix, Onstage, Music Education Technology, AudioInsider, Electronic Musician, and other magazines and websites for musicians
Michelle Moog-Koussa (pictured) is the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization The Bob Moog Foundation (BMF).* The BMF started in 2006 to honor the legacy of the late synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog, who passed away in 2005. The Moog Foundation mission is to ignite creativity at the intersection of music, history, science, and innovation.
The Bob Moog Foundation’s projects include:
- Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, which teaches the science of sound through the magic of music
- The Bob Moog Foundation Archives, an effort to preserve and protect Dr. Moog’s extensive and historic archive
- The Moogseum, an Asheville, North Carolina museum educational, historic, and cultural facility
Moog-Koussa, the daughter of Bob Moog, is featured in the upcoming Waveshaper Media documentary film, “Electronic Voyager.” Moog-Koussa takes the filmmakers on a journey around the world, tracing the life, career, and far-reaching impact of her father’s work.
The NAMM Believe In Music awards will be presented Saturday, January 18th at 10am in the NAMM Idea Center in the lobby of the Anaheim Convention Center, and all badged NAMM attendees are welcome to attend.
For more information, visit namm.org.
About The Bob Moog Foundation
*The Bob Moog Foundation is an independent, donor-supported 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. They are not associated with the manufacturer Moog Music, nor do they receive financial support from them. See the Foundation site for more information.
