ARIA Awards 2020: Tame Impala, Archie Roach and Sampa the Great dominate night

Music legend Archie Roach and rapper Sampa the Great have dominated at the most diverse and socially distanced ARIA Awards to date.

Tame Impala, Archie Roach and Sampa the Great have dominated at the most diverse and socially-distanced ARIA Awards to date.

The awards took place in Sydney with Delta Goodrem hosting, but with no audience and many of the guests and performers appearing remotely.

There were many awkward moments, with the canned laughter and fake applause often being out of sync, with some acceptance speeches via Zoom suffering technical glitches.

As well as his Hall of Fame induction Indigenous musician Archie Roach won Best Male Artist and Best Adult Contemporary Album for his Tell Me Why release. 

Roach, who has battled lung cancer in the last decade as well as having a stroke, performed an emotional version of his classic Took the Children Away — written about his experience as being part of the Stolen Generation. Roach, at home in Warrnambool, Victoria, was joined by Paul Kelly and Paul Grabowsky.

Hall of Fame inductee Archie Roach performs via video link at the 2020 ARIA Awards. Picture: Getty Images

Rapper Briggs inducted Roach into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

“Once again a Blak fella was going above and beyond to educate the rest of Australia,” Briggs said.

“He created a path and we had a benchmark to strive for.”

Paul Kelly said: “He’s a great storyteller but I think he’s also one of Australia’s great soul singers.”

Surrounded by family and friends, upon winning Best Male Roach said “being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame is enough for me. It’s great to even be nominated in these awards, they’re the pinnacle of what we do as recording artists.” 

The Zambian-born, Melbourne-based musician Sampa the Great has made more ARIA history. 

Sampa the Great accepts the ARIA Award for Best Hip Hop Release at the 2020 ARIA Awards. Picture: Getty

Delta Goodrem performs during the Helen Reddy Tribute at the 2020 ARIA Awards. Picture: Getty Images

After becoming the first woman of colour to win a Hip Hop ARIA ward last year, Sampa became the first rapper to win Best Female Artist for her acclaimed debut album The Return.

The Return also picked up Best Independent Release and Best Hip Hop Release — after a backlash last year, ARIA made sure that latter category made it to the official broadcast this year, rather than the pre-show online awards.

“Hip hop has been redefined in the last five to ten years,” Sampa said. “Young black artists, young people of colour, keep bringing the stories to the forefront because now we get to see a side of Australia that was never shown. Sending all my love to black women who are in hip hop. It often feels isolated and masculine, you can step into whatever genre and be you.”

Kevin Parker from Tame Impala accepts the ARIA Award for Best Rock Album via video link. Picture: Getty Images

West Australian band Tame Impala nabbed the prestigious Best Album for their No. 1 record The Soft Rush.

Despite being essentially the project of Kevin Parker, who plays all the instruments on each album, Tame Impala picked up Best Group, while the synthesiser and dance-driven The Soft Rush won Best Rock Album.

SIA makes a typically bold statement.

Tones And I performs during the Helen Reddy tribute. Picture: Getty Images

Louis Leimbach of Lime Cordiale performs at the 2020 ARIA Awards at The Star. Picture: Getty

Parker also won the Engineer and Producer of the Year awards – Tame Impala have now won eight ARIA Awards over the last decade.

“I didn’t know I was engineering until someone told me I was,” Parker said. “I was just plugging things in and making music. My parents always wanted to be an engineer, but not this kind of engineer.”

Sydney band Lime Cordiale, who had eight nominations for their second album 14 Steps to a Better You, had to settle for one ARIA, for Breakthrough Artist.

New Indigenous artist Miiesha picked up Best Soul/R&B Release for her acclaimed debut Nyaaringu.

Amy Shark performs at the 2020 ARIAs. Picture: Oliver Minnett

Amy Shark won Best Pop Release for her hit single Everybody Rise, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard picked up best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album for Chunky Shrapnel, Fanny Lumsden won Best Country Album for Fallow while The Teskey Brothers added to their ARIA collection with a gong for Best Blues and Roots Album for Live at the Forum.

Melbourne folk duo Teeny Tiny Stevies beat The Wiggles to win their first Best Children’s Album ARIA award for Thoughtful Songs for Little People.

The ethereal Emma Watkins, of The Wiggles, took part in the Helen Reddy tribute at the The Star. Picture: Getty Images

Powerhouse Christine Anu on stage. Picture: Getty Images

In the public voted awards 5 Seconds of Summer’s Teeth won Best Song, Guy Sebastian’s Standing With You picked up Best Video and Amy Shark won Best Australian Live Act. Harry Styles beat Taylor Swift, Lizzo and Dua Lipa to win Best International Artist.

Australian singer Sia made an odd performance from LA that had social media users asking if she was really under the wig, while Billie Eilish and Sam Smith also provided prerecorded songs filmed overseas.

Delta Goodrem, Kate Ceberano, Tones And I, Amy Shark, Jessica Mauboy, Marcia Hines, Montaigne, the McClymonts, Emma Watkins and Christine Anu closed the night with a joint tribute to Helen Reddy, by performing her anthem I Am Woman.

This year the ARIA put their In Memoriam section into the pre-show event only seen on You Tube, however singled out Reddy, Max Merritt, Bones Hillman, Greedy Smith and Don Burrows for a quick tribute during the televised event.