K'naan, a Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist whose political lyrics often take us to his war ravaged homeland, has won a music award from the BBC. The broadcaster's annual Radio 3 Awards, designed to celebrate the best in "world music", have selected K'naan as "best newcomer" of the year. This honour comes close to two years after his first full-length record, The Dusty Foot Philosopher was released in 2005.
Posted by Rob Maguire on April 2, 2007 in
KARIM TALAAT | Mr. HIV + | "I will be 'parading' in a bathing suit, with a banner, a tiara, flowers and a black dildo within the Engineering and Visual Art building of Concordia University with the intent of having viewers placing themselves, for a brief instant, as my persona of an HIV infected person reflecting 'positively' on their life." [Photo: Rob Maguire]
This weekend I was one of a small group of fortunate people who attended the Governor General Awards in Visual and Media Arts at Rideau Hall in Canada's capital city of Ottawa. It is without doubt one of the strangest spaces I have inhabited. The evening started off in an ornate and expansive room with thirty foot vaulted ceilings, large chandeliers, a string quartet, and chairs arranged for the guests to view the award ceremony. The GG, her husband, and the eight award winners sat on modest plush chairs facing the audience, and each award was presented by the winner's nominator, followed by short acceptance speeches, and two addresses from their excellencies. I had real trouble with the whole "your excellency" lingo, and fumbled a bit when I first met the GG, who was elegant, charming, and almost unnaturally attentive considering how many people were constantly approaching her throughout the night.
Michaëlle Jean has had some big shoes to fill after Canada's last GG, Adrienne Clarkson, gave the title some real meaning by committing so heavily to boost, support, and connect the arts and cultural communities in Canada. The new GG seems to be doing a great job, and if personal impressions are anything to go off, I'd say that Canada's new GG will be supportive of political art too. In fact, politics were definitely present at the awards ceremony, whether it was in the description of some of the more political artists life work such as Daphne Odjig, or whether it was jabs by speakers directed at the much-deserving Harper aministration - Canada's very own arts-bashing Bush.
FULL STORY + COMMENTS
Posted by Ezra Winton on March 25, 2007 in
Fueling social change with eclectic folk rock across Canada and abroad, Ember Swift has received accolades for her inviting web presence in the form of a Canadian Indy Award nomination. Up against four other acts for the title of Best Website, Ember and crew are appealing to fans of their punchy, progressive music to cast their ballots.
Votes can be cast online, and polls close February 23 at midnight.
Posted by Rob Maguire on February 14, 2007 in
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