The Audience Award One of the main awards has now been decided by you the audience. The winner will be announced at the Poll Winners concert in March. A huge thanks to all those who contributed. It was wonderful to see such a wide-ranging list of nominations (left) and the way so many of the musicians have touched your lives.
Here are the bands who were voted onto the final shortlist. Click on each name to read more about them and click on the 'listen' icon to hear a selected track from each band. A large selection of your comments can be found by clicking on the list to the left.
Matt Leys, London:
'Before there was Mariza, there was Madredeus. The haunting, elegiac voice of Teresa Salgueiro and the complex, flowing music of Pedro Ayres Magalh茫es distil the experience and emotions of Lisbon and of Portugal into a unique music - Fado, folk and chamber music, all in one. Still unchallenged masters of Portuguese music.'
Patricia Borges, London:
'Madredeus have brought to the world what we Portuguese have in our soul. They help me mitigate my "Saudades" - the most Portuguese of concept a melancholic feeling for something, someone that one misses or that is unatainable. Sudenly I am in the streets of Lisbon again...'
Veronica Paine:
'I love their music-it's incredibly haunting and soothing. And the singer has an amazing voice. When I see their concerts I feel at peace and that is a wonderful feeling.'
