Albums by Leonard Cohen, Feist, The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie and past winner Tanya Tagaq are among the 10 selections on the 2017 Polaris Music Prize short list. The award honors Canada's best album of the year, eventually determined by a grand jury of music media at the gala evening, Sept. 18, at Toronto's Carlu.
The announcement was made this morning at public broadcaster CBC's headquarters in Toronto and streamed live on the Polaris Music Prize's Facebook page.
The albums are judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration of genre, record sale, professional affiliation or personal stories. The eligibility period for the titles is from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017.
The 10 albums are: A Tribe Called Red's We Are The Halluci Nation; BADBADNOTGOOD's IV; Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker; Gord Downie's Secret Path; Feist's Pleasure; Lisa LeBlanc's Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?; Lido Pimienta's La Papessa; Tanya Tagaq's Retribution; Leif Vollebekk's Twin Solitude; and the eponymously-titled release by Weaves.
The short-list was culled from a long list of 40 titles that had been selected on the first ballot by this year's jury pool — 201 members of the Canadian music media comprised of journalists, broadcasters and bloggers. After albums suggestions are made all year on a private web site, jurors are asked to listen to them all and then vote for their top 5, submitted electronically. From the long list that was announced mid-June, the same jurors must pick their top 5 to be counted for the short list nominees.
Those short list titles are debated behind closed doors at the Polaris Music Prize Gala by an 11-member grand jury who continue to blind vote and battle it out, while the festivities (including performances by the nominees) take place on stage. The winning album, which the grand juror is not privy to, is announced at the end of the evening.
The winner receives $50,000 (CAD) and the nine other short listed artists $3,000, courtesy of Slaight Music.
Past winners of the Polaris Music Prize 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).
