The award comes with a check for C$50,000 ($41,000) and was presented by last year's winner, Kaytranada.
As the 11-member grand jury -- selected from the larger jury pool of music media -- debated about and voted on the 10-title shortlist behind closed doors at the venue, those artists were honored onstage with a thoughtful essay about their work and a custom-designed poster. Some of the nominees also performed: Pimienta, Feist, Tanya Tagaq, Lisa LeBlanc, Leif Vollebekk and Weaves.
Lido Pimienta’s ‘La Papessa’ Has Won The 2017 Polaris Music Prize #polaris2017
The audience of 900 was mostly comprised of industry, artists, sponsors and jurors with a small quantity of tickets sold to the public.
The other nine albums on the 2017 short list were A Tribe Called Red's We Are The Halluci Nation; BadBadNotGood’s IV; Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker; Gord Downie’s Secret Path; Feist’s Pleasure; Lisa LeBlanc’s Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?; Tanya Tagaq’s Retribution; Leif Vollebekk’s Twin Solitude; and the eponymously-titled release by Weaves.
The albums are judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration of genre, sales or professional affiliation, according to the Polaris mandate. The eligibility period for the titles is June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017.
The nominated albums had been selected by a two-part calculation process. This year’s 201-member jury -- made up of music journalists, broadcasters and music bloggers from across Canada -- selected 188 titles on the first online ballot, which asked for their top 5 picks ranked in order. The 40-title long list was then determined and the same jurors picked their top 5 from those 40 to determine the short-list.
Slaight Music again donated the prize money, C$50,000 for the winner and C$3,000 ($2,275) for each of nine short-listed acts.
Artists who have previous won the Polaris Music Prize are Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008),Patrick Watson (2007), and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
