Polaris Prize Music Winner Announced!
aaamusic | On 21, Sep 2010
Toronto, ON – Montreal, Quebec’s Karkwa was named the winner of the fifth annual Polaris Music Prize at the gala ceremony held tonight at CTV’s Concert Hall at the Masonic Temple in Toronto. They take home $20,000 for Les Chemins de Verre.
“It’s an unbelievable thing to win this prize. We have a lot of respect for this contest and we think they do it for the right reason (music). On suit le gala depuis son début, et c’est le prix qui nous touche le plus.” – Karkwa
Their fourth album, Les Chemins de Verre (The Glass Paths), was recorded in part at La Frette studios in Paris— an inspirational venue dating from the 19th century, it became the sixth member of the band as they returned there time and again during their French tour. A lively collection based on spontaneous impulses of creativity, this album was put together without preproduction for a more organic and impressionist sound. Karkwa has won several awards in Quebec and has toured over the past three years around Canada, France, Switzerland, Belgium, England, the United States, and Lebanon.
Karkwa joins the group of previous winners which includes Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy (2006).
The process of voting begins with the almost 200 member jury. These music journalists, bloggers, and broadcasters cast ballots for the 40 title Long List and 10 title Short List of Canadian albums released between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010. The 11 member gala Grand Jury, chosen from the larger jury, was sequestered in the Masonic Temple jury room to select a winner while the event took place.
Liisa Ladouceur, who oversees the Grand Jury, spoke about this year’s decision.
“This was probably the longest and most emotional deliberation in Polaris history. The short listed records are all of extreme high quality and they truly resonated with members of the jury whether or not they completely understood the language of the lyrics,” reflected Liisa Ladouceur. “What this year’s winner indicates is that music is about emotion.”
The Grand Jury this year are Rob Bowman (York University professor), Jennifer Charlesworth (The Georgia Straight), Leah Collins (Dose.ca), Del Cowie (Exclaim), Jonathan Dekel (Spinner), Amanda Farrell-Low (Monday Magazine), Jian Ghomeshi (CBC Q), Marc Xavier Leblanc (freelance journalist and DJ), Francois Marchand (Vancouver Sun), Andre Peloquin (Bang Bang) and Phillipe Rezzonico (Rue Frontenac).
Ten albums were shortlisted for the 2010 Polaris Prize. They are:
The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
Caribou – Swim
Karkwa – Les Chemins De Verre
Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Owen Pallett – Heartland
Radio Radio – Belmundo Regal
The Sadies – Darker Circles
Shad – TSOL
Tegan And Sara – Sainthood
The gala was hosted by CBC Radio 3’s Grant Lawrence and MuchMusic’s Sarah Taylor. Sirius Satellite Radio and Radio 3 broadcast the event live across North America on Sirius channel 86, and around the world on the web at radio3.cbc.ca. The gala was also webcast live on muchmusic.com and will be broadcast Saturday September 25, 9pm ET on MuchMusic with repeat airings on MUCHMORE Thursday, September 30th @ 10pm, MTV2, Friday Oct 1st @11pm ET and Saturday, October 2nd, @ 10am ET, and BRAVO, Monday, September 27th @ 10PM & 1AM and Tuesday, September 28th @ 9AM ET .
About the Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a not-for-profit organization that annually honours, celebrates and rewards creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music by recognizing and marketing the albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history, as judged by a panel of selected music critics. For further information, including rules, jury and sponsors, please visit www.polarismusicprize.ca.
