Art-rockers Franz Ferdinand from the Scottish city of Glasgow have won Britain's prestigious Mercury Music Prize with their eponymous debut album.

"We really didn't expect to win this," singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos told the crowds who rose to their feet to applaud the winners at an awards ceremony in central London.

"We haven't got a speech or anything, we're truly gobsmacked, it's fantastic and we're very chuffed, very honoured," he said

"Every band [on the short list] deserved it more than we did," he said.

Kapranos told the audience his band's success came at a "fantastic" time in British music.

The quartet won the 20,000 pound pop music prize, which traditionally carries with it priceless promotional value, ahead of 11 other acts.

They included one-man rap band The Streets for A Grand Don't Come For Free and Liverpool group The Zutons for their debut album Who Killed ... The Zutons.

Other nominees included Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Keane, Belle and Sebastian, Basement Jaxx, Jamelia and rapper Ty.

Northern Irish quartet Snow Patrol and venerable singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt, who at 59 is enjoying a revival with his first album in six years, completed the list.

Franz Ferdinand's nomination followed the Glasgow quartet's triumph at this summer's Glastonbury festival in the west of England and its assault on the US album charts.

Their debut album has sold over a million copies worldwide since its release in February this year and has also been heavily praised by music critics.

The Mercury Prize, now in its 13th year, honours the best album of the year by a British or Irish band, and is dubbed the Booker Prize of the music world.

--<strong>AFP</strong>