Music News Digest, Oct. 13, 2022
Composer Alice Ping Yee Ho (pictured) wins the Maria Anna Mozart Award, Hill Kourkoutis is honoured at the Oshawa Music Awards, and stars sign up for a Leonard Cohen tribute album. Also in the news are the Canadian Climate Music Summit, Festival of Small Halls Ontario, Music NL, The Sadies, Justin Bieber, Music Nova Scotia, Indie Weekly, Radio Starmaker Fund QUSIC, FAI, AM to FM Live, Mary Clements, and Hannah Shira Naiman.
By Kerry Doole
Awards news
Celebrating musical talent in the Durham region of Ontario, the Oshawa Music Awards were held recently. Amongst the recipients was rising star producer Hill Kourkoutis, for the. MusicIndustry Leader of the Year award. See a full list of nominees and recipients here.
– Composer Alice Ping Yee Ho is the latest winner of Symphony Nova Scotia's prestigious Maria Anna Mozart Award for Canadian women composers. This annual $10K prize sees the symphony commissioning and performing a new piece of music penned by a Canadian woman. Alice Ping Yee Ho's winning work will debut as part of an International Women's Day broadcast in March 2023. Applications for the next round of the Maria Anna Mozart Award are open until Nov. 1. More info here
Festivals news
– Rightfully recognised as one of the best roots-accented fests around, Festival of Small Halls Ontario brings name artists into small halls in smaller communities across Eastern Ontario, for three weekends in Oct. Set this weekend (Oct. 14-15) are concerts by Irish Mythen, Madison Violet, Ashley MacIsaac, and The Barra MacNeils, and more, while Oct. 21 and 22 features Ron Sexsmith, Irish Descendants, Elliott Brood, Jeremy Fisher, Jim Bryson, and Angelique Francis. See the full sked here.
Industry news
– The 2022 AGM of the membership of the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (Music NL) will be held on Oct. 29 (9.30-10.30 am) at The Rotary Arts Centre and on Zoom and is to include the Election of Directors 2022/2023. Register by Oct. 27 here.
– The first Canadian Climate Music Summit takes place on Oct. 21, featuring a daytime summit and an evening public panel and concert. The event features leading music industry executives and artists imagining a greener music industry and is presented by Music Declares Emergency Canada and programming partner the Canadian Live Music Association (with support from Ontario Creates). Speakers include David Suzuki, Music Declares Emergency founder Fay Milton, and artists Logan Staats, Donna Grantis, and Brighid Fry (Housewife). Concert Performers include Grantis, Tragedy Ann, Shakura S'Aida, The Weather Station, Staats, Housewife, Ruby Singh, Veronica Johnny, George Sawa, and Leah & Peter from July Talk. Info and tix here
– Music Nova Scotia is presenting the Production And Live Engineer Sector Mentorship for supporting Live Sound Engineers, Sound Techs, Studio Engineers, Producers and other members of the production sector in Nova Scotia. This program is made possible by the Government of Canada and the Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund. Music Nova Scotia may provide an investment of 100% of the Total Eligible Budget to a Program maximum of $9K per Applicant, per Deadline. Applications are open now until Dec. 15, 2022. Info here.
– The website for the Radio Starmaker Fund is now back online and ready to accept applications for its 85th Round. The deadline to apply here is Nov. 17 at 5 pm EST.
– A new live music series dubbed QUSIC is putting a spotlight on the many local 2SLGBTQ+ artists in and around Victoria, BC. It is being undertaken by Rebellious Unicorn, an Okanagan-based 2SLGTBQ+-focused events and production company, and all artists taking part in the series must identify under the 2LGBT2Q+ spectrum. It launched last night (Oct. 12) at Friends Of Dorothy, with Matthew Presidente, Karen Donna and Hoélune Rośeperforming. Look for another show in early Dec. You can also watch the performances via Rebellious Unicorn's live-streaming platform.
– Interested in learning more about Folk Alliance International conference 2023? FAI's Insider's Guide webinar is here to help. Held on Oct. 19 ( 1 pm CT), it details how you can make the most of the 2023 conference. Sign up here. Today (Oct. 13) is the final day for FAI's Early Bird registration rate here.
– After a month’s break, Andrea Morris' AM to FM Live series returns to Toronto, on Oct. 20, at Art Bay. It features sets by Quebec country act Blue Ridge Band and Ontario pop artist Matt Doran, withbeer and cocktails on the house. RSVP by emailing andrea@amtofm.com by Oct. 19.
The next Indie Weekly online session (No. 75) is set for Oct. 18, at 4 pm EST. Entitled Artist Tips For Long-Term Success and Growth, it features speakers Teresa Nelson and Steve Kenny of Traverse Music Management. Free registration here.
Artists news
– The appetite for the work of Leonard Cohen remains hearty, as shown by the release tomorrow (Oct. 14) of a star-studded tribute album, Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (out on Blue Note). Stars collected by producer Larry Klein on the 12-track album include Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Sarah McLachlan, James Taylor and Iggy Pop have recorded songs for the 12-track album. Klein enjoyed a friendship with Cohen dating back to the early 1980s, and he states "the project helped keep Leonard in the air around me."
– After putting his tour on hold last month, citing health issues and exhaustion, pop singer Justin Bieber has officially postponed all of his upcoming tour dates through March 2023. Bieber finally began the Justice World Tour in San Diego in Feb., but was forced to pause in June after he suffered partial paralysis of his face due to Ramsey Hunt Syndrome, which the Mayo Clinic terms a rare side effect of a facial shingles infection. As of yet, no word on rescheduled dates for the tour.
– Though still reeling from the tragic loss of Dallas Good, The Sadies are soldiering on, playing gigs in support of their current album, Colder Streams, one of which Dallas was justifiably proud. Last week, this scribe caught their sold-out show at The Casbah in Hamilton, an emotional yet uplifting experience. The core trio was joined for a chunk of the set by Kacy and Clayton (who opened the night in fine style) and, for a few tunes, their comrade and occasional producer Gary Louris, of US Americana heroes The Jayhawks. A real show highlight came when Louris played Dallas’ Telecaster guitar and sang lead on The Story's Often Told, one of my favourite Sadies songs. There are reports that Louris has now moved to the Hamilton area, and we’d be thrilled to have him.
– In advance of the release of her album Come With Me on Nov. 4, Hamilton-based indie-pop singer/songwriter Mary Clements has released a single and self-produced video, the bilingual Bonne Nuit.
– Any folk artist earning kudos from the great Tom Paxton merits attention. Huntsville -based singer/songwriter Hannah Shira Naiman released her 3rd full-length album, The Wheels Won’t Go (produced by Ken Whiteley), last week, and has just put out a video for the title track. Naiman won a Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Singer of the Year in 2017 for her album Know the Mountain.
