Telemiracle’s talent lineup for 2016, March 5-6 from the Conexus Arts Centre, Regina, will include hosts Jeffery Straker, Jill Straker, Beverley Mahood, Kim Coates, Streetheart, Rosie & the Riveters, Donny Parenteau, Jess Moskaluke, Andrea Menard, Brad Johner and The Johner Boys, and Chris Henderson Music, plus many more performers (www.telemiracle.com).
British music producer Elias “Ellie” Lengé announced in January the launch of new record label Be Major Music, in partnership with Blue Door Recording. Be Major Music focuses on producing music at the cutting edge of pop, gospel, folk and other styles. The first release on the label was “Mind your Business” by 19-year-old singer Caitlin Beaton. Be Major Music offers a range of specialist services and general support functions to artists including: studio recording sessions, physical and digital sales, marketing, promotions and performance bookings. Releases will be announced throughout 2016 including those by Beaton, Davy Sage, Terrina, K. Anthony and new artists to follow. “The opportunity to showcase Canadian music talent to the world is an exciting idea to us at Be Major Music” said co-founder Ellie. “We are thrilled with the early response from the music community. Regina may not seem the obvious place to find international music stars, but neither was Liverpool at the time when The Beatles became huge. There is no shortage of talented musicians here in Regina and Saskatchewan and we simply want to introduce them to the world.”
Rawlco Radio’s PROJECT 10K20 announced its latest recipients: congrats to Autopilot, Nick Faye & The Deputies and Brody Siebert! Rawlco Radio’s Project 10K20 Saskatchewan will fund 80 artists in total from 2010 to 2016. Saskatchewan artists have an opportunity to receive $10,000 from Rawlco Radio to professionally record and master an album of their music. Rawlco continues to accept applications throughout the year as there will be more announcements in 2016. Announcement dates and application deadlines still to be determined at this time (www.rawlco.com/10k20).
The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra announced, at its September Annual General Meeting, that it had its strongest season in more than a decade, posting a surplus of $200,000 and completely retiring the organization’s debt. The orchestra has begun its 85th season, the first with new music director Eric Paetkau. Paetkau is a JUNO-nominated conductor, who now calls Saskatoon home. In its 84th season the SSO witnessed a significant increase in both subscriptions and single ticket sales – one of the few Canadian orchestras able to boast such increases. The largest growth was seen in the under 35 demographic. The season featured 14 Saskatchewan-born guest artists, 7 of whom were making their SSO debut. Season highlights included Saskatoon’s Thomas Yu, a refreshed performance of Handel’s Messiah with the new Saskatoon Symphony Chorus, and world-renowned bass Nathan Berg – a Sask,-born singer who despite his international career had never performed with the SSO (http://saskatoonsymphony.org).
Nebulus Entertainment has been active with multiple hip hop recordings, a finished recording for metal band Northern Fallout, a new album by Highwind, a new album on the way for Katie Miller, singles by the Scott Benson Band, Alexandra, Awaken Aries, Sasmatha Pauchard, Mark Dombowsky, Shantel Stewart, and more! You can also hear their work on some of the new SaskTel television commercials (www.nebulusentertainment.com).
THE BEST SASKATCHEWAN ALBUMS
OF 2015
In December, we ran our first year-end “best of” poll. We thought it would be a great way to congratulate our artists on the amazing music you released this year, and draw some general public attention to the product available. We had EXCELLENT engagement with this, so we will be planning to make this an annual thing. Make sure we know about your album/EP releases - for many things, promotions like this being one of them. We closed the poll with over 2000 people having participated from 13 different countries.
It was a very tight race with numerous ties in the final results so we ended up having a top 15 albums, instead of just a Top 10! We hope that through this poll more people have come to realize and appreciate how much outstanding music is created from here in Saskatchewan. You’re all winners in our books. The results:
#1 DGS Samurai Champs: The Hard Tape
#2 Constant Reminder: CRLove (Volume VI)
#3 Megan Nash: Song Harvest Volume One
#4 Rah Rah: Vessels
#5: Another 2-way tie!
Colter Wall: Imaginary Appalachia
Jess Moskaluke: Kiss Me Quiet
#6 Library Voices: Lovish
#7: Another 2-way tie!
Artificial Lift: Wasted Days
The Sheepdogs: Future Nostalgia
#8 Bombargo: Back on Main
#9: A 2-way tie
Bears in Hazenmore: Airwaves
Kacy and Clayton: Strange Country
#10: A 3-way tie
Darlene Tuleta: I Came Back
Johnny 2 Fingers and the Deformities: McMillan’s Monster
League of Wolves: League of Wolves
To be included, the album was:
Released by an artist residing in Sask. (i.e. living in Saskatchewan at the time of the album’s release date)
First released to the public between Dec 1, 2014 and Dec 1, 2015
At least 30 minutes or 5 tracks in length.
To learn more about these artists, see News on our website.
