Peter Gabriel is being awarded the Polar Music Prize 2009 for his ground-breaking, outward-looking and boundary-busting artistry. As a composer, artist and person, Peter Gabriel has not only had a significant influence on the development of popular music – he has redefined the very concept. Peter Gabriel does more than just intertwine music, voice and images – his music is at once a megaphone for the global society and its most unflinching critic. Peter Gabriel’s artistry presents us with world music in its most meaningful sense.