It was a starry night for Jeremy Dutcher at the 2024 Polaris Music Prize Gala.
The Polaris Music Prize, established in 2005, is a not-for-profit ed charity that awards a $50,000 prize to the best Canadian album of the year, regardless of sales, label, or genre. On Sept. 18, at the annual Polaris Gala at Toronto’s Massey Hall, Jeremy Dutcher won this year’s award. Dutcher first won the prize in 2018 for his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, and wins again this year for Motewolonuwok. He makes history as the first musician to win the award twice.
Dutcher is a Wolastoqiyik member of the Tobique First Nation, and preserving and uplifting the Wolastoqey language is crucial to his work. In Motewolonuwok, his second record, Dutcher included English lyrics for the first time,alongside Wolastoqey.
Currently on a Canada-wide tour with intermittent shows across the country, Dutcher is set to performs in Queen’s’ own Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts on Sept. 20. The show will be held in Jennifer Velva Bernstein Performance Hall, as one of the Isabel’s Artists Spotlight Concerts. He moves on to Vancouver and Halifax throughout October.
The award is judged by an 11 member Polaris Grand Jury, selected from a wider juror pool. The prize aims to uplift and celebrate the art of music and acknowledges its role in shaping the Canadian music canon.
With the winner chosen from 40 long list nominees, and 10 short list nominees, the competition is stiff, with many great Canadian musicians up for the prize. This year’s short list included Allison Russell, BAMBII, Charlotte Cardin, Cindy Lee, DijahSB, Elisapie, NOBRO, The Beaches, and TOBi. These artists span many different languages, genres, and locations across the country, showing the diversity of the prize.
Previous winners of the prize include familiar names such as Kaytranada, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Feist, Arcade Fire, and Caribou. Dutcher was presented the prize by 2023’s winner, Debby Friday.
Shortly after winning the prize last year, Friday embarked on a successful European and North American tour, releasing her newest single, “To The Dancefloor,” in April this year.
Dutcher spoke to the transformative nature of the prize for the winning musician, based on his previous experience with the award. “Six years ago, this award changed my life. I have to give unending gratitude to this music community,” Dutcher said in his acceptance speech.
His speech also highlighted the importance of uplifting Indigenous culture through Dutcher’s music and platform. “To bring forward art and music in this land, in our languages, with our aesthetics—all I have to say is we are shining for you, now go shine for other people,” he added.
This spotlight on Canadian music is a necessary one as global music becomes more and more accessible. Sometimes, the wide range of music that’s available clouds the immense wealth of talent right on our doorstep.
Dutcher’s performance in Kingston will allow local audiences to experience his prize-winning talent for themselves.
The Polaris Music Prize shines a light on the breadth of Canadian talent across genres and locales, granting the winner a career-changing opportunity that Jeremy Dutcher has been able to use to expand his vision and art to a wider audience.
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