polaris music prize
Pierre Kwenders Wins 2022 Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Album
Congolese-born, Montreal-based musician, songwriter, and DJ Pierre Kwenders has won the 2022 Polaris Music Prize for his third album, José Louis and the Paradox of Love. An 11-member jury selected the record as the Canadian album of the year, based on artistic merit, without regard to genre, sales, or record label. The announcement was made at the Carlu in Toronto on Sept. 19 — Polaris’ first in-person celebration since 2019. In his acceptance speech, Kwenders thanked family, friends, and collaborators who contributed to the telling of his journey: “This is for all the kids from the diaspora… This is my story. This is my African story, my Congolese story, my Canadian story. This is your story if you want to take it as yours.” José Louis and the Paradox of Love — José ...
Cadence Weapon Wins 2021 Polaris Music Prize in Canada
Cadence Weapon’s fifth studio album Parallel World was announced as the winner of the 2021 Polaris Music Prize on Monday (Sept. 27). The prize is awarded to the “best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales or record label,” according to the organization. Cadence Weapon, a Canadian-American rapper (real name Roland “Rollie” Pemberton), hails from Edmonton, Alberta. His win was announced during an event that was streamed live from CBC Toronto’s Studio 211. This is the 16th year of the Polaris Prize, which is presented by CBC Music. Past winners include Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs (2011) which also won a Grammy as album of the year, and three albums by acts that subsequently went on to collect Grammy nominations – Caribou (2008), Kay...
