| Last updated at 8:41 AM on 23/06/08 |
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The Canadian Folk Music Awards will be hosted in St. John's Nov. 23 and will feature the best performers Canada has to offer. Artists influential in the folk industry, which has strong roots in Newfoundland and Labrador will be vying for the award. - Submitted photos/CFMA/Lois Seigl |
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Folk music awards seeks St. John's submissions 
Musical genre deeply rooted in Newfoundland and Labrador
HEIDI WICKS
Special to The Telegram
This year's Canadian Folk Music Awards show will be hosted at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre on Nov. 23.
The philosophy behind the Canadian Folk Music Awards is that it's a travelling show, according to Jean Hewson, organizing committee member for the awards.
"It started in Gatineau, Que., and has travelled west, east, and then back to Gatineau," she explains.
However, Hewson also says that this year is especially important, in that it's taking place in an area of the country that is especially influential to the Canadian folk music landscape. To distinguish this year's show, there will be additional accompanying workshops offered in conjunction with the awards show.
"We'll be offering these in conjunction with the partners," Hewson elaborates, "such as Music NL and the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Council. I don't think the show has gone as deeply into the community as it has gone here."
She says the specific workshops to be offered are still under development.
Currently, an important element to establishing the foundation for this year's awards is receiving more submissions for all 19 categories.
"I would really like to see a lot of local (Newfoundland) submissions this year," says Hewson. "We have a very vibrant music scene here - people put out records every week. There's no reason why we can't have more Newfoundlanders nominated, because as far as I'm concerned, the Newfoundland acts are every bit as powerful and valid musically as anything people are offering from other provinces."
The deadline is July 4, and recordings have to have been released between June15, 2007 and June 15 this year. Hewson notes artists should also carefully download and read the submissions package, which can be found at http://canadianfolkmusicawards.ca/eligibility/, and artists are encouraged to contact members of the organizing committee for advice on which category they are most appropriate for.
Jury members will remain nameless for now, however Hewson explains they are selected based on opinions and consensus of the folk music community.
"We try to get a wide variety of artists and tastes," she says.
"But we also don't want to burn people out, work them too hard year after year - so we try to get different artists. We're developing a list, and we're always interested in recruiting new jurors, and if people are interested in becoming one, they really should contact the organization. We're happy to entertain applications."
Hewson also says it's important that shows such as this one continue.
"One of the reasons this show was set up, was in response to the Junos, where they have a couple of grassroots categories," she says.
"But every artist was submitting to these two categories, so it wasn't completely fair. Folk music is a huge, consistent and stable part of Canadian music in general. We thought it wasn't getting its dues from organizations like the Junos, which have this huge mandate to cover all of Canadian music. So, we wanted to focus in on folk and traditional music specifically and give it the coverage and press or media we felt it truly deserved. We thought it was getting swallowed up by other types of music, and we wanted to give it a voice. For many of us on the board, the awards is also a secondary part - our main mandate is to focus the media, for a brief period of time, on folk music itself."
For more information on submissions and becoming a juror for the Canadian Folk Music Awards, please visit www.canadianfolkmusicawards.ca.
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