The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music and produced by Blue Ant Media, today announced its 2017 Short List of 10 Canadian albums which will vie for the Polaris Music Prize being decided Sept. 18 in Toronto.
The 2017 Short List was announced by CBC Radio 2 Morning host and Polaris juror Raina Douris. Douris will also host the Polaris Music Prize Gala, which will be held at The Carlu in Toronto and live-streamed at cbcmusic.ca/polaris and on CBC Music’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
2017 Polaris Music Prize Short List:
A Tribe Called Red – We Are The Halluci Nation
BADBADNOTGOOD – IV
Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
Gord Downie – Secret Path
Feist – Pleasure
Lisa LeBlanc – Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
Lido Pimienta – La Papessa
Tanya Tagaq – Retribution
Leif Vollebekk – Twin Solitude
Weaves – Weaves
My pick for the winner? Gord Downie’s Secret Path.
On CBC Radio 2 at 6 p.m. (6:30 p.m. NT) tonight, CBC Music will feature a special hour-long broadcast celebrating the Polaris Music Prize Short List on Drive with Rich Terfry. Tune in online or find your local CBC Radio 2 frequency at cbcmusic.ca/radio2, and visit cbcmusic.ca/polaris for more coverage.
The eligibility period for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize runs from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017. An independent jury of music journalists, broadcasters and music bloggers from across Canada determines the Long List and Short List. Eleven people are selected from the larger jury pool to serve on the Grand Jury and they will convene the night of the gala to select the Polaris Music Prize winner.
The Polaris Music Prize will award $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year. Each of the nine other short-listed artists will receive $3,000 courtesy of Slaight Music. Judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration of genre or record sales, the prize’s past winners are Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007), and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
