Jeremy Dutcher has become the Polaris Music Prize’s first-ever two-time winner, with his breathtaking sophomore album, Motewolonuwok, taking home the $50,000 prize on September 17.
While continuing to draw on his love for the endangered Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language that inspired his first Polaris Prize-winning album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, the classically trained Dutcher masterfully used Motewolonuwok to journey into English compositions that explore healing and all-encompassing love; and was sure to bring the power of both represented languages to his gala performances of “Sakom,” “Take My Hand,” and “Together We Emerge.” In a media scrum following the conclusion of the gala, Dutcher said that his $50,000 would be donated to Kehkimin, a Wolastoqey language immersion school founded by his mother.
The announcement came at the end of the Polaris Music Prize Gala, held at Toronto’s legendary Massey Hall, which featured an array of performances of the 2024 Short-Listed artists. The stunning Elisapie, whose album, Inuktitut, is a mind-blowing exploration of classic rock’s most legendary songs through the lens of the Inuktitut language, got the show started with mesmerizing performances of “Isumagijunnaitaungituq” (Metallica’s “The Unforgiven”) and “Qaisimalaurittuq” (Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”).
To celebrate the Beaches’ boundary-shattering Blame My Ex, lead singer, Jordan Miller, invited London, ON, rockers, and Thunder Queens to join her onstage for an energetic performance of “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid.” Adding to the theme of badass ladies taking the stage, punk rockers, Nobro, turned up the volume to celebrate their loud and ruckus Set Your Pussy Free with the tracks “Where My Girls At,” “A.I. Sexbots” and “Let’s Do Drugs.”
Representing the hip-hop and urban spaces, the crowd at Massey Hall was treated to passionate and electrifying performances by rapper, TOBi, who performed “Someone I Knew”, “Hoodwinked” and “Protect You” from his nominated album Panic; and by DijahSB, who brought smooth rhymes with a medley of tracks including “Frontin’ Like Pharrell,” “Imma Ball,” “Broke Boi Anthem,” “Black Outside (feat. Mina Lioness),” and “I’m Blooming.” Capping off a celebration of the best Canadian music of the year was a DJ set by Juno Award-winning DJ, Bambii.
Although absent from the celebrations, the psychedelic pop of Cindy Lee was celebrated during the gala with the debut of their latest video for “IF YOU CAN HEAR ME CRYING” from her nominated album Diamond Juballie; while the Grammy Award-winning, Allison Russell, sent the College Dance Collective to perform a stunning ballet inspired by “Eve Was Black” off her Polaris Prize-nominated The Returner.
With the 2024 Polaris Music Prize celebrated in full, the focus now shifts to the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, where the public are invited to join the vote to celebrate Canadian albums released prior to the first Polaris Music Prize in 2006 by visiting https://polarismusicprize.ca/heritage-prize/.