By: Daniel Gerichter (@ZenDonut) –
2014 Polaris Music Prize winner Tanya Tagaq. (Photo: Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)
There were many stories going into the 2014 Polaris Music Prize gala. Admittedly, none brought with them the controversy of 2013. That’s because unlike any previous year, the artists were the focus in 2014.
Rolling into the posh Carlu in downtown Toronto, you could feel the tension everywhere. Among artist, critic and fan alike – this was anyone’s award to take home. Basia Bulat, the Toronto-based singer of the stunning Tall Tall Shadow paced the Carlu’s round room, chatted with anyone who asked. When asked how she spent gala day, she laughed “Pacing, mostly. I’m excited, don’t get me wrong, but this is an incredible crop of talent to be up against. I’ve just been pretty nervous.” Bulat would give a harrowing performance of the title track off her shortlisted, beautiful record Tall Tall Shadow later that evening.
That sentiment – the fandom coupled with raw nerves – is what echoed throughout the evening’s events. To see Bulattake a selfie with Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, or three-time nominee Shad hugging awards newcomer Mac Demarco, it didn’t feel like a competition – it felt like friends high-fiving one another over a job well done.
Comedian (and cancon fanatic) Jay Baruchel played host for the evening, inserting the avant-garde poop-and-dick jokes he’s been such an integral part of into his opening speech. “The winner gets $30,000 to do whatever they want with. Everyone else gets a big back of petrified dog cocks” he opened up with. “Drake is not actually present. That being said, the Moffats are here. At least one Moffat is here. He’ll be at Mr. Sub, waiting for media interviews.”
And if Baruchel was the first one to take the piss out of the Canadian music industry, no one did it better than BC’s Mac DeMarco. Shortlisted for this year’s Salad Days, DeMarco could be pinpointed from essentially anywhere in the building, rocking green camo overalls, a Simpsons t-shirt and old sneakers – pimpwalking among the dressed-to-impress fashionistas of the mostly-industry crowd. But make no mistake, DeMarco is more than just swagger. ‘Introduced’ by his best friend Chaz “we only came cause we heard Drake was gonna be here. See you at the afterparty!”, DeMarco performed “Still Together” which wasn’t even on Salad Days. Like a glorious hybrid of Michael Buble and Brian Wilson, DeMarco displayed vocal chops to match any of his comrades with a ridiculous, entertaining lounge singer act to match.
2006 award winner and shortlister Owen Pallet did double duty, performing and introducing Arcade Fire. “When I heard the band was following up the Suburbs, I prayed for Tusk, I prayed for Sandanista.” “Reflektor is one of a kind and I’m immensely proud to have worked on it.” While the full band did not perform, a few of their ranks (including iconoclast frontman Win Butler) made the trip for the festivities.
And as the night wore down, blogger Ty Harper introduced Shad. Harper made the salient point that “indie music has been used to exclude racialized music from its ranks”, speaking of course to the majority-rock showings in the indie scene. Shad performed “Stylin” and brought out wee chanteuse Lights for “Remember to Remember”.
With all due respect to everyone else on the list, this is where their time ended. After a long break, the Element Choir and percussionist Jean Martin took the stage. BC’s Geoff Berner took on the task of introducing Cambridge Bay, Nunavut’s Tanya Tagaq. Berner gave a speech about the Harper government’s recent discovery of the remains of the Franklin Expedition, sarcastically stating “Turns out it was where the Inuit said it was all along”. He added “If you want to know how our culture needs to find its way in the 21st century, listen to Tanya Tagaq’s album”. “Animism takes traditions that are 10s of thousands of years old and combines it with digital technology to make an encyclopedic argument for the natural world. You can hear the living land, children being born, torture and genocide of the innocent and the glory of the unstoppable.”
2014 Polaris Music Prize shortlisted artist Basia Bulat. (Photo: Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)
Somehow, all of that passion still couldn’t prepare us for Tagaq’s performance. Gutteral, rasping, animalistic, aggressive, mesmerising, sad and triumphant all at once, Tagaq was a force of nature on stage. Her performance transcended the place we were and took us to her home turf, eliciting the suffering, dignity and connection to nature at Animism’s core. A vertical screen rushed an absurdly long list of missing, dead or presumed dead First Nation women, as part of the #nomorestolensisters effort the Canadian government seems all too eager to ignore. Particularly unnerving was the chunk of the list that just featured Jane Doe’s.
Afterwards, Tagaq would receive a seemingly unending standing ovation. Even after she’d rushed off stage, the crowd kept cheering. Baruchel: “HOLY FUCKING SHIT”. Writer Anupa Mistry would recite some of the lines from Drake’s Nothing was the Same to illustrate his level of success and introduce his album. Cue the audible groans. Given what they’d just experienced, that was understandable. In that one moment, even Drake was an afterthought.
After another break, Baruchel announced that Tagaq had won the 2014 Polaris Music Prize to an absolute deafening response. Tagaq’s speech, while short, focused on some of her own personal controversy, including scrutiny she’d endured over seal hunt endorsement. “I think people should wear and eat seal as much is possible (mixed applause/boos) because it’s sustainable, it’s delicious and fuck PETA (huge applause)”. “We’ve been doing this a long time – like ten years. So, if you liked it, you should really just come to the show”.
Tagaq also thanked bandmates Jesse Zubot, Jean Martin and label Six Shooter Records, describing them as a “wonderful, gigantic womb and I was just this huge baby”. She spent much of that time expanding on her impassioned position on the seal hunt and personal politics. “I really believe that if hipsters can make flower beards, then you can do it with seal.” “Come on, guys.” Tagaq doubled down with incendiary language about Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “I did a Canada day performance a few years back and we were supposed to stay on stage and meet Stephen Harper and even then I was thinking ‘fuck that’. I always knew in my gut that he isn’t right”.
“There goes our funding” quipped Polaris President Steve Jordan.
In previous years, there might have been controversy about award winners being ‘too commercial’ or ‘too indie’ or whether they needed the money. There was no such controversy this year. Seeing Tagaq perform live, it’s clear there’s nobody else on this planet that does it like she does. Animism is of itself a cultural and artistic experience that brings us all out of our comfort zones and forces us into places we might never have seen or heard in our lifetime. That’s music in its most idealistic state. That’s why she won.
Aesthetic Magazine | Album Reviews, Concert Photography, Interviews, Contests 
Discussion
No comments yet.