Canadian Folk Music Awards

The Canadian Folk Music Awards made for a lovely evening last night at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church in Ottawa. The awards were supposed to have been at the Canadian Museum of Civilization across from Parliament Hill in Gatineau, QC, but had to be moved because of the strike at the museum.

There were some excellent performances including two-song sets by Yonder Hill, Old Man Luedecke, Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer, April Verch, Valdy and Catarina Cardeal & Mike Siracusa. The evening began in a grand style with a medley of tunes played by four fiddlers -- Bonita Leblanc, Anthony Brascoupe, Denis Lanctot and Terri-Lyn Mahusky -- from the Ottawa region who were in the balconies above the audience. Shelagh Rogers and Benoit Borque were the very able MCs.

The Good Lovelies were sitting beside Sylvie and me, so I got to be among the first to congratulate them when they got back to their seats after taking the award for new/emerging artist(s) of the year.

The Canadian Folk Music Award winners were…

Traditional Album of the Year
James Hill & Anne Davison – True Love Don’t Weep (Langley, BC)

Contemporary Album of the Year
Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax)

Children’s Album of the Year
Chris McKhool – FiddleFire! (Toronto)

Traditional Singer of the Year
Colette Cheverie - Hours Before Dawn (Charlottetown PE)

Contemporary Singer of the Year
Jim Byrnes – My Walking Stick (Vancouver)

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year
Tony McManus – The Maker’s Mark (Elora ON)

Instrumental Group of the Year
Sultans of String – Yalla Yalla! (Toronto)

English Songwriter of the Year
Susan Crowe - Greytown (Halifax)

French Songwriter of the Year
Catherine Durand - Coeurs Migratoires (Montreal)

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year
Don Amero - Deepening (Winnipeg)

Vocal Group of the Year
Madison Violet – No Fool For Trying (Toronto)

Ensemble of the Year
The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours (Saskatoon)

Solo Artist of the Year
Catherine MacLellan – Water in the Ground (Charlottetown PE)

World Solo Artist of the Year
Karim Saada - La Danse de L'exilé (L’Assomption QC)

World Group of the Year
Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko – Africa to Appalachia (Toronto / Quebec QC)

New/Emerging Artist of the Year
The Good Lovelies – Good Lovelies (Toronto)

Producer of the Year
Joel Plaskett - Joel Plaskett: Three (Halifax)

Pushing the Boundaries
Steve Dawson – Telescope (Vancouver)

Young Performer of the Year
Ariana Gillis – Ariana Gillis (Vineland ON)

Congratulations to all the award winners.

--Mike Regenstreif