The CBC said The 55th Annual JUNO Awards, which aired on March 29 was watched by 2.6 million viewers on CBC TV, at least for some portion.
Most of the awards were given out the previous evening at the gala dinner, which was streamed on various CBC platforms, but Juno Week, as it was branded by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in the early 2000, includes staples like JunoFest and the Songwriters Circle. There was also the True North Classic Celebrity Basketball Game, the Kick-off Concert, and Juno Awards After Party in support of MusiCounts, all open to the public.
But behind the scenes, in this tight-knit music community, were lots of parties and events. This scribe, a music journalist since my late teens, who has attended almost every Juno Awards, lifts the curtain on some of them, all celebrating the people and artists that make our music industry tick and punch above its weight worldwide.
Universal Music Canada held a private listening party on the afternoon of March 28 at First Ontario Concert Hall’s intimate The Studio, hosted by eTalk’s Tyrone Edwards.
The no-phone gathering showcased the major label’s new signings Ebril, Kalsey Kulyk and Kuzi Cee with short interviews and the playback of two songs each. The unannounced surprise was a performance by the cast of the new musical It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, based on the songs of The Tragically Hip, which opens at Hamilton’s Aquarius Theatre on April 22 and runs through May 16. The band’s manager, Jake Gold. and show’s producer, Michael Rubinoff (Come From Away, Maggie), also chatted briefly about how the project came to be.
That evening, Advance: Canada’s Black Music Business Collective held its annual Juno party, Advance House, in the bright event space, Millworks Creative – The Gallery Studio. This year, CBC radio show, The Block, “Canada’s home for Black artists and their music,” broadcast live at the bash, where on-air hosts Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe and JJ LaBorde interviewed Juno nominees Nuela Charles, Adria Kain, Samora & Ammoye, ARDN and Tanika Charles, who was the only artist to also perform.
Meanwhile, over at Bridgeworks, a 500-capacity venue owned by long-time indie label founder Tim Poticic of Sonic Unyon, the industry came out in full force to celebrate ArtHaus visionary Sandy Pandya, a long-time artist manager, who was one of three industry legends to receive the Juno Awards’ prestigious Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award (alongside agent Vinny Cinquemani, co-resident, Paquin Artists Agency, and the late Al Mair, founder of Attic Records).
Pandya, who has managed everyone from Hayden to Tegan and Sara, Hawksley Workman and Serena Ryder through Pandymonium Management, since created a community space, Arthaus, that brings together a studio, management, label, and publishing company, and recently launched the South Asian Music Accelerator.
The celebration took place during Six Shooter Records’ 2026 edition of The International Babes of Glory cocktail reception. Ten of her industry colleagues — also friends — gave brief tributes, one by one, on stage to the dynamo who blazed a trail for other women and continues to open doors for artists and newcomers to the music industry. Among the speakers were fellow Grealis Award recipient Denise Donlon, Starfish Management’s Susan de Cartier, former Warner Music Canada president Steve Kane, and Six Shooter founder Shauna de Cartier. Pandya’s mother also told some stories, right before her daughter went onstage and characteristically used the time to praise others.
On the Saturday night, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) hosted a big bash also at Bridgeworks, after the sold-out industry Juno Awards Gala. The invite called the afterparty “a celebration of independent music with those who make it, live it, breathe it.” The house band was the fabulous Flamingos, who played covers such as Ramones and Talking Heads and welcomed occasional guest vocalists. CIMA CEO Andrew Cash, a singer, songwriter and recording artist now on the advocacy side of the music biz, got up onstage and sang early in the night, and later, such powerhouses as Begonia and Billianne. Between sets, Cadence Weapon was the DJ. The room was packed house with industry and artists, including members of Sum 41, Billy Talent, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
However, most would agree the highlight of the highlights is the long-running “secret” Jim Jam, which started by happenstance 20 years ago but now actually is sponsored (CMRRA – Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency) and has an official name, Jim Cuddy: Jam Suite.
The co-vocalist of the multiplatinum band Blue Rodeo hosts the party Friday through Sunday from midnight until 4 or 5 a.m. (sometimes ducking out early) in a word-of-mouth location, usually a basement of a hotel. Put together by former NHL player and guitarist Brad Dalgarno and co-hosted by original Now Magazine publisher Michael Hollett, this year, it was the Sheraton Hotel. Word starts spreading over the weekend, so it gets increasingly packed, holding about 100 people, but it’s still mostly attended by industry and artists who know one another.
Chairs are set up in a circle (like an AA meeting for people addicted to music when they should go to bed) and artists share their talent on a cover or two. Among them: Tom Cochrane, Ron Sexsmith, Teenage Head’s Dave Rave, Tom Wilson, Aysanabee, Begonia, Terra Lightfoot, Billy Talent’s Ben Kowalewicz, Brett Kissel, Miranda Mulholland, Damhnait Doyle, Kim Stockwood, and, of course, Cuddy alongside his two sons, Sam Polley and Devon Cuddy.
Said Cuddy on the red carpet, explained to Now Toronto how he is still standing after playing until the wee-hours of the morning: “It’s a good life if you don’t weaken right?” he said, quoting The Tragically Hip song. “The lack of sleep is worth it. The late nights, camaraderie of different musicians, and hearing people play, is well worth it. And it only happens once a year, right.”
The next morning, Sunday, Women In Music Canada held an invite-only drag brunch, in partnership with Pride Hamilton and TD Bank, at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
WIMC executive director Robyn Stewart introduced the short program by introducing a knowledge keeper from Hamilton, Mohawk artist Laila Staats, who disclosed some personal information to the packed room of women, and said, “But this was the only event this week that I didn’t cancel… I’m with women. And I feel like if anyone understands this relationship that we have to our bodies and to sacred parts of us that have given life to other women, other men, then you know. I just knew I would be in a safe place.”
She also took us through a video of a prayer set to music, giving us a mini language lesson along with her two young daughters about the “elements of life.”
For the drag show, performers including Sasha Fienix, Karma Kameleon, Kamilla, and King Indee, all to classic hits, including songs by Alanis Morissette and the 2026 Canadian Hall of Fame inductee Nelly Furtado.
At the end of the show, Fienix addressed the room.
“We know how terrifying it is to be anything but a cis old, rich, white man,” she said. “So, even though, let’s be honest, it’s a bunch of queer people and women in the room, we’re already a step behind in terms of platform. Use the voice you do have to speak up for others who don’t have it. It is a terrifying time and if we are not loud and we are not engaged, we will just keep rolling backwards like the States is…Do not let the causes that matter get overshadowed by the stupidity and the distractions. And the most important way you can make change is to vote, is to be politically engaged, is to vote with your money [and] support the people who support your communities.”
