(REGINA) January 13, 2022 - SaskMusic is preparing to announce the winners of the 2021 Saskatchewan Music Awards via a streamed event on Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 8pm CST, on YouTube (www.youtube.com/SaskMusic) and Facebook. The awards are meant to honour excellence and celebrate the achievements of our Saskatchewan music industry members over the past year. Performers for the virtual event will include Saskatoon’s The Garrys, vbnd and Katie Tupper; Regina’s Flash Back, and Cut Knife’s Jake Vaadeland.
With the exception of Album of the Year, all the SMAs will be announced on Thursday. (The award for Album of the Year was announced in mid-December after Hunter Brothers’ “Been a Minute” reached the top of The Best Saskatchewan Albums of 2021 public poll.)
Following the SMAs, the fourth annual Very Prairie Music Summit kicks off, running online January 21-23. An educational event for the Saskatchewan music industry, Very Prairie is focused on career growth, business development and music industry best practices. National and international presenters will dive into an array of topics that we hope will provide practical and straightforward information. We encourage musicians and industry at any stage of their career to attend, learn and share. Registration for the event is free.
To learn more, visit www.VeryPrairie.ca, and follow SaskMusic’s social media accounts for updates.
SaskMusic would like to thank Creative Saskatchewan and FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) for their support.
The Best Saskatchewan Albums of 2021 Long List
There were multiple ties in this year’s public poll.
- #1 Hunter Brothers - Been a Minute (Album of the Year, Saskatchewan Music Awards)
- #2 (TIE) Jake Vaadeland - Retro Man; Jeffery Straker - Just Before Sunrise
- #3 (TIE) Jess Moskaluke - The Demos; vbnd - Scum Funk
- #4 (TIE) The Garrys - Get Thee to a Nunnery; Seven Mile Sun - Light In The Dark; Flash Back - Wide Awake
- #5 (TIE) Amanda Hagel - Be the Light; Marie-Véronique Bourque - Entre Québec & Saskatchewan; Wolf Willow - Old Guitars & Shooting Stars
- #6 Munro & Patrick - Give Me Your Rain
- #7 The Saskatchewan All Stars Big Band - The Saskatchewan Suite
- #8 Ava Wild and Merky Waters - Existing
- #9 Andino Suns - 9/11
- #10 (TIE) Jeff D Michel – Back to the Moon; Tucker Lane – Random Fireworks on a Beach Obscured by Trees; Karissa Hoffart - Life of Mine
(December 2) - SaskMusic today announced the nominees of the 2021 Saskatchewan Music Awards, via a streamed event. The awards are intended to honour excellence and celebrate the achievements of our Saskatchewan music industry members over the past year. The 2021 awards event will take place in a streaming format on January 20/2022 via SaskMusic’s social media pages. Performers for the virtual event will be announced at a later date. Today’s announcement also included the long list for The Best Saskatchewan Albums of 2021. Now in its seventh year, this annual year-end list was created to draw attention to fantastic Saskatchewan music released in a broad range of styles, and now goes forward for public voting to determine the winner of Album of the Year.
SaskMusic Executive Director Mike Dawson noted, “We are once again inspired by the talented artists of our province, who continued to create amazing music this year. Our industry continues to be heavily challenged by the pandemic, with the livelihoods of musicians and music businesses worldwide affected, but we are encouraged by the resilience and optimism of our industry members. We look forward to celebrating the music of our province with the awards this January.”
The SMAs are being held in conjunction with the Very Prairie Music Summit, an educational event for the Saskatchewan music industry, which will also be held online, January 21-23. We are hoping to incorporate some in-person elements as well. Please follow SaskMusic’s social media accounts, and the main awards website www.saskmusicawards.com, for updates.
SaskMusic would like to thank Creative Saskatchewan and FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) for their support.
THE NOMINEES
Alternative Artist of the Year
- Carson Shmyr
- Megan Nash
- Slow Down Molasses
- The Garrys
- The Steadies
Country Artist of the Year
- Amanda Hagel
- Ches Anthony
- Hunter Brothers
- Jess Moskaluke
- Munro & Patrick
Electronic Artist of the Year
- Ava Wild & Merky Waters
- Nige B
- Patrick Moon Bird
- RUMPUS
- Theo Noble
Experimental/Contemporary Artist of the Year
- ADEOLUWA
- Factor Eight
- Jesse Brown
- Marie-Véronique Bourque
- The Faps
Hip Hop Artist of the Year
- Alex Bent + the Emptiness
- Ev Thompson
- Pimpton
- RaytheNihilist
- Rooky
- soso
Metal/Loud Artist of the Year
- Alien to the Ignorant
- Before & Apace
- Flash Back
- Swayze
- Tyler Gilbert
R&B Artist of the Year
- Ariel
- Emanali
- MELODNA
- Namoo Nara
- People of the Sun
- TOVA
- vbnd
Rock/Pop Artist of the Year
- Étienne Fletcher
- Megan Nash
- Scott Klein
- The Garrys
- velours
- W3APONS
Roots/Folk Artist of the Year
- Andino Suns
- Jay & Jo
- Jeffery Straker
- Last Birds
- The North Sound
- Wolf Willow
Indigenous Artist of the Year
- Jarrid Lee
- The North Sound
- The Northwest Kid
- vbnd
- Yvonne St.Germaine
Music Video of the Year
- Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for Jeffery Straker - Ready to Be Brave
- Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for Spiritbox - Hurt You
- Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for velours - Whatever That Means
- Gavin Baird for Alex Bent + the Emptiness - 2sides
- Play Creative for Megan Nash & the Best of Intentions - Chew Quietly / Clean Slate
- RAKK Productions, cinematographer Ryley Konechney for Minda Donaldo - Remember December
- Tanner Goetz for Jess Moskaluke - Mapdot
Single of the Year
- Hunter Brothers, “Been A Minute”
- Hunter Brothers, “Diamonds”
- Jess Moskaluke, “Nothin' I Don't Love About You”
- Jesse Brown & Rich Batsford, “Whispered Winds”
- Nowujalo, “Wake Up”
- Shantaia, “Had A Good Weekend”
- Tesher x Jason Derulo, “Jalebi Baby”
- The Sunset Kids, “I Wanna Be”
- vbnd feat. Katie Tupper and The Soulmate Collective, “Slowly Starting to Take Form”
- W3APONS, “Bye Baby Gone”
Industry Achievement
- Broadway Theatre
- Dale McArthur
- Eliza Doyle
- Grey Records
- Songs for Nature Team
Producer of the Year
- Bart McKay
- Chris Dimas
- Factor Eight
- Hal Schrenk
- Josh Palmer
Venue of the Year
- Broadway Theatre
- Conexus Arts Centre
- Hanks Tavern
- The Happy Nun
Notes to the categories:
- The recipient of the new Indigenous Music Achievement award will be announced at the awards celebration on January 20. Nominees are not announced for this category.
- Single of the Year is a data-determined category that can include any genre. All other categories were determined by juries comprised of music industry members.
- R&B Artist of the Year is a new category for 2021.
- For the first time this year, the winner of Industry Achievement and Venue of the Year will be determined by a combination of jury marks and public vote.
Album of the Year
THE BEST SASKATCHEWAN ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: LONG LIST
From all the qualifying full-length album submissions received this year, jurors selected our Long List of 37 albums. Now we turn to the public to determine the Top Ten of 2021, and ultimately the recipient of Album of the Year. We encourage music lovers to discover new albums and then vote for their favourites before the midnight December 16/21 deadline. Only one vote per email/IP address will be counted for the duration of the voting period.
A sample playlist of the Long List is available on Spotify (we live there as “SaskMusic Ziggy”) and YouTube.
The Top 10 albums will be announced via SaskMusic’s social media the week of December 20. More information and voting information is available at www.SaskatchewanMusicAwards.com.
The 2021 BSA Long List
A R I E, Misconceptions
Alien to the Ignorant, A Dying Art
Amanda Hagel, Be The Light
Andino Suns, 9/11
Ariel, Libra
Ava Wild and Merky Waters, Existing
Beach Body, Walking Holiday
Blume Hinges, Build Your Castle Inside of a Mountain
Ches Anthony, Stories From Yesterday and Today
Étienne Fletcher, Entre-deux
Ev Thompson, Roller Coaster
Flash Back, Wide Awake
The Garrys, Get Thee to a Nunnery
The Helpless, The Helpless
Hunter Brothers, Been A Minute
Jake Vaadeland, Retro Man
Jeff D. Michel, Back to the Moon
Jeffery Straker, Just Before Sunrise
Jess Moskaluke, The Demos
Karissa Hoffart, Life of Mine
Last Birds, Last Birds
Marie-Claire, From the Red Room
Marie-Véronique Bourque, Entre Québec & Saskatchewan
Munro & Patrick, Give Me Your Rain
Peace Flag Ensemble, Noteland
People of the Sun, Last Day of Summer
Ritual Rabbits, The Middle of Somewhere
The Saskatchewan All Stars Big Band, The Saskatchewan Suite
Seven Mile Sun, Light In The Dark
Skip Jr. Campbell & Dream Creeps, Skip Jr. Campbell & Dream Creeps
Slow Down Molasses, Minor Deaths
Trash Hawks, Being Ill
Tucker Lane, Random Fireworks on a Beach Obscured By Trees
Tyler Gilbert, The Fallen
vbnd, Scum Funk
W3APONS, Adios Radio
Wolf Willow, Old Guitars & Shooting Stars
