Social distancing will not stop the Polaris Music Prize from celebrating the best in Canadian music.
During a live event streamed over YouTube and Facebook, the Polaris Music Prize presented it’s 2020 Long List yesterday. This year’s Long List, presented by the Canadian Council for the Arts, celebrates the true diversity to be found in Canadian music and includes a wide array of music genres, languages, and both new and established artists.
With social distancing still in place, past Polaris nominees, including Tim Baker, Cadence Weapon, Shad, Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ Derren Mentz, Hannah Georgas and 2019 Polaris Music Prize winner, Haviah Mighty, were enlisted to help present the 40 nominees; while 2020 Long List nominee, Anachnid, performed songs from her nominated album, Dreamweaver.
Looking forward, the 40 album Long List will be pared down to 10 when the Short List is revealed live on July 15 on a CBC Music radio special. The 2020 Polaris Music Prize will then be presented during a special cinematic event on the CBC Gem streaming service and CBCMusic.ca/Polaris this fall. More details on this will be announced in the coming weeks.
Every year, the Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year, as voted on by music journalists, who judge their selection solely on artistic merit and without consideration for genre or record sales. In addition, the nine other Short Listed nominated acts will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.
Past winners of the Polaris Music Prize include Jeremy Dutcher, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Feist, Arcade Fire and Fucked Up.
For more information about the Polaris Music Prize, please be sure to visit https://polarismusicprize.ca/.
Your 2020 Polaris Music Prize Long List nominees are:
Allie X Cape God
Anachnid Dreamweaver
Aquakultre Legacy
Marie-Pierre Arthur Des feux pour voir
Backxwash God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
Badge Époque Ensemble Badge Époque Ensemble
Begonia Fear
P’tit Belliveau Greatest Hits Vol. 1
Caribou Suddenly
Daniel Caesar CASE STUDY 01
Chocolat Jazz engagé
Louis-Jean Cormier Quand la nuit tombe
Corridor Junior
dvsn A Muse In Her Feelings
Jacques Greene Dawn Chorus
Sarah Harmer Are You Gone
Ice Cream FED UP
Junia-T Studio Monk
Kaytranada Bubba
Flore Laurentienne Volume 1
Cindy Lee What’s Tonight To Eternity?
Men I Trust Oncle Jazz
nêhiyawak nipiy
OBUXUM Re-Birth
Owen Pallett Island
Pantayo Pantayo
Lido Pimienta Miss Colombia
Joel Plaskett 44
William Prince Reliever
Jessie Reyez BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US
Riit ataataga
Andy Shauf The Neon Skyline
Super Duty Tough Work Studies in Grey
U.S. Girls Heavy Light
Leif Vollebekk New Ways
Wares Survival
The Weeknd After Hours
WHOOP-Szo Warrior Down
Witch Prophet DNA Activation
Zen Bamboo GLU