In the weeks leading up to the Polaris Music Prize gala crowning the “best” Canadian album of 2016, I’d decided I was rooting for U.S. Girls to win for their album Half Free, which topped NOW’s 2015 best local album list.
It’s difficult to select any one creative project and designate it as better than any number of any other creative projects. But that’s the job of a Polaris juror, and I am a long-time juror, though I was not part of this year’s grand jury, which made the final decision. Still, I have to be decisive, so I am.
But stepping out of the elevator on the seventh floor of the Carlu, which I’ve been doing every September for years now, something changed. Toronto journalist and fellow prelim juror Josh Ostroff and I were chatting, and he asked the inevitable question: “So who do you think is going to win tonight?
I said, “That’s difficult to answer because I’m not sure I really care.”
I wasn’t being a glib prick. It’s just that the anticipation some of us jurors feel in the months ahead of the gala, when we engage in prolonged, private and personal discussions about records by the long list of 40 nominees and then the short list of 10, starts to melt away once you get to the event.
By then it’s a party and a reunion, and the prize almost leaves your mind until the very end of the night when the winner is announced.
There’s casualness and camaraderie in the small, close-knit Canadian music biz. We mostly get along with and respect each other, as much for our work as for our drive and determination to stay involved in it in whatever role we play.
Perhaps more than the Juno Awards, the Polaris is infused with a spirit of youthful doggedness that inspires joy toward hard-working Canadian musicians and those who orbit their work. At the Carlu, in the lobby, at the bar, on the leather couches, there’s lots of mingling with geographically distant friends who share an unspoken sentiment of rebellion: “We’re still getting away with this!”
So we celebrate challenging artists, like last year’s Polaris winner Buffy Sainte-Marie for Power In The Blood and this year’s victor Kaytranada for 99.9%, and every nominee who gets further exposure because of the Polaris Prize. The feeling is warm and vibrant.
For all of my cynicism about arts competitions, I left the Polaris gala feeling like we all accomplished something significant for the whole culture. What’s better than that?
music@nowtoronto.com | @vishkhanna
