CFMA's 2017 ~ Folk Summit on the Rideau

A fake statistician could theoretically make the case that Canadians are more familiar with the live performance of folk music than with any other style. We winter in dens where guitars, accordions and fiddles feather those gatherings drawn to fireplaces and craft beers and the supreme summer souvenir is often a shot of a dear one, singing into a bonfire with a song by a Gord or a Joni or a Joel incandescent in their eyes, and their friend with a harmonica huddling in for a photo bomb.  


Celebrating this most social of empathetic arts is the delightful duty of the Canadian Folk Music Awards, which pops up in major cities on the brink of winter every year for the past dozen years. I shall be journeying up to the nation's upper case as the event returns to Ottawa this weekend, regretfully abandoning my show for another week. Many friends of the Orbit are contestants and performers. My friend, award-winning photographer Leonard Poole will be capturing the action for the blog.

 I will be back on the 24th with a studio visit from Kevin Breit and a sheaf of new Canadian music from the far folk frontiers.

The awards ceremony is broadcast here CFMA's 2017

Nominees

Traditional Album of the Year

• Cassie and Maggie - The Willow Collection

• Jenny Whiteley - The Original Jenny Whiteley

• André Brunet - La grosse maison rouge

• Còig - Rove

• Jayme Stone - Jayme Stone's Folklife

Contemporary Album of the Year

• Abigail Lapell - Hide Nor Hair

• The Fretless - Bird's Nest

• Tomato Tomato - I Go Where You Go

• Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude

• Braden Gates - Much Rather Be Sleeping

Children’s Album of the Year

• Ginalina - Home Is Family

• Jessie Farrell - Chirp Chirp Happy

• Stella Swanson and the Rosie Joyfuls - Pants on Backwards

• Madame Diva et Micah le jeune voyageur - Zing-E-Zing!

• Fred Penner - Hear The Music

Traditional Singer of the Year

• Hannah Shira Naiman - Know The Mountain

• Cassie and Maggie - The Willow Collection

• Mélisande Gelinas-Fauteux (of Mélisande [Électrotrad]) - Les millésimes

• Sarah Jane Scouten - When the Bloom Falls From the Rose

• Dave Penny - All Turned Around

Contemporary Singer of the Year

• Lisa LeBlanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?

• Coco Love Alcorn - Wonderland

• Abigail Lapell - Hide Nor Hair

• Stephen Fearing - Every Soul's A Sailor

• Oh Susanna - A Girl In Teen City

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year

• Roberto López - Criollo Electrik

• Maneli Jamal - The Mardom Movement

• Glenn Chatten - Dragonfly

• André Brunet - La grosse maison rouge

• Don Ross - A Million Brazilian Civilians

Instrumental Group of the Year

• MacIsaac and MacKenzie - The Bay Street Sessions

• The Fretless - Bird's Nest

• Beyond The Pale - Ruckus

• Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy - A Celtic Family Christmas

• Scott Macmillan & Colin Grant - Good2Go

English Songwriter of the Year

• Ken Yates - Huntsville

• Scott Cook - Further Down the Line

• Amelia Curran - Watershed

• Stephen Fearing - Every Soul's A Sailor

• Oh Susanna - A Girl In Teen City

French Songwriter of the Year

• Luc De Larochellière - Autre monde

• Philippe B - La grande nuit vidéo

• Vivianne Roy, Katrine Nöel & Julie Aubé (of Les Hay Babies) - La 4ième dimension (version longue)

• Patrice Michaud - Almanach

• Catherine Durand - La pluie entre nous

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year

• Julian Taylor, Kinnie Starr, John Parente & Bill Bell (of Julian Taylor Band) - Desert Star

• Cindy Paul - The Flight

• Chelsey June & Jaaji (of Twin Flames) - Signal Fire

• Desiree Dorion - Tough Street

• Lisa Muswagon - Buffalo and Rabbits

Vocal Group of the Year

• The Big East - Hungry Ghosts

• Coco Méliès - The Riddle

• Cassie and Maggie - The Willow Collection

• Twin Flames - Signal Fire

• The Bombadils - New Shoes

Ensemble of the Year

• Cassie and Maggie - The Willow Collection

• Silent Winters - Fireworks & a Small Brigade

• 100 mile house - Hiraeth

• The Jerry Cans - Inuusiq

• Mama's Broke - Count the Wicked

Solo Artist of the Year

• Zachary Lucky - Everywhere A Man Can Be

• BEYRIES - Landing

• Amelia Curran - Watershed

• Leeroy Stagger - Love Versus

• Stephen Fearing - Every Soul's A Sailor

World Solo Artist of the Year

• Briga - Femme

• Maneli Jamal - The Mardom Movement

• Louis Simão - A Luz (The Light)

• Farnaz Ohadi & The Mashregh Ensemble - Bird Dance

• Kelly Bado - Entre deux

World Group of the Year

• MAZ - ID

• Kobo Town - Where The Galleon Sank

• Turkwaz - Nazar

• Twin Flames - Signal Fire

• Beyond The Pale - Ruckus

New/Emerging Artist of the Year

• Ken Yates - Huntsville

• Hidden Roots Collective - Come Up, Honey

• Braden Gates - Much Rather Be Sleeping

• Silent Winters - Fireworks & a Small Brigade

• The Bombadils - New Shoes

Producer of the Year

• Danny Michel and Rob Carli - Khlebnikov (Danny Michel)

• Joel Plaskett - Solidarity (Bill & Joel Plaskett)

• Amelia Curran and Chris Stringer - Watershed (Amelia Curran)

• Stephen Fearing and David Travers-Smith - Every Soul's A Sailor (Stephen Fearing)

• Jim Bryson - A Girl In Teen City (Oh Susanna)

Pushing the Boundaries

• Danny Michel - Khlebnikov

• Turkwaz - Nazar

• Tanya Tagaq - Retribution

• Mélisande [Électrotrad] - Les millésimes

• Shreem - Celtic Remixing

Young Performer of the Year

• The Wolfe - The Wolfe

• Keltie Monaghan - Someone Tell Her

• John Muirhead - Yesterday's Smile

• Quin Etheridge-Pedden - Embark

• Moscow Apartment - Demo