CFMA Committee Announces
The Fifth Anniversary Edition of the Canadian Folk Music Awards
and Call for Submissions
Please visit the CFMA media web site at www.folkawards.ca/media
The Canadian Folk Music Awards celebrates its fifth anniversary this year by returning home to the National Capital Region.
The 2009 CFMA ceremony will take place Saturday, November 21st, 2009 in the theatre at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, QC. By popular demand, Shelagh Rogers of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter and Benoit Bourque of the legendary Quebecois group La Bottine Souriante will return to host the bilingual ceremony. Performers will be announced later this summer. Awards will be handed out in 19 categories, ranging from Traditional Album and Contemporary Album of the Year to Pushing the Boundaries and Young Performer of the Year.
The Canadian Folk Music Awards were founded in 2005, in response to rumours that the Junos intended to cut one of their Roots and Traditional categories. The gala has quickly become Canadian folk music’s biggest night of the year. The awards recognize Canada’s outstanding writers, producers and performers of folk music, and the artists who are expanding the genre in innovative and exciting ways. While the Junos pay homage to Canada’s pop music success stories, the CFMAs celebrate the magnificent diversity of Canada’s musical heritage – from the musical traditions of Aboriginal Canada to Celtic, Acadian and traditional Quebecois styles, singer-songwriter music, blues, bluegrass and old-tyme country and the myriad of global traditions brought to Canada by each new wave of immigration. What’s more, the CFMAs provide an opportunity to draw Canadians’ attention to the depth and breadth of folk music in Canada.
Past Canadian Folk Music Award winners include established artists like Luke Doucet, Corb Lund, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Harry Manx, Oh Susanna, David Francey and Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer, and up-and-comers like T. Nile, Kyrie Kristmanson, Brigitte Saint-Aubin and Sarah Noni Metzner.
Call for Submissions
Submissions are now being accepted for the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Canadian folk, roots and world artists who released recordings between June 15, 2008 and June 14, 2009 are eligible to submit.
The deadline for receipt of submissions at the CFMA office is Friday, July 3, 2009. Forms and eligibility guidelines can be found on the CFMA web site at http://www.folkawards.ca.
Nominees will be announced October 7, 2009 at a media conference in the capital.
The full list of categories is as follows:
· Traditional Album of the Year
· Contemporary Album of the Year
· Children’s Album of the Year
· Traditional Singer of the Year
· Contemporary Singer of the Year
· Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year
· Instrumental Group of the Year
· Vocal Group of the Year
· Ensemble of the Year
· Solo Artist of the Year
· English Songwriter of the Year
· French Songwriter of the Year
· Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year
· World Solo Artist of the Year
· World Group of the Year
· New/Emerging Artist of the Year
· Producer of the Year
· Pushing the Boundaries
· Young Performer of the Year