We are in the age of Animism.
Critically acclaimed Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq defeated Drake, Arcade Fire and Jessy Lanza (among other short-list nominees) to pull in the 2014 Polaris Music Prize. The prestigious honour is awarded to “the best Canadian album of the year based on artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation.”; Previous winners have included F***ed Up, Arcade Fire and Feist.
“The album itself came from a very awesome place,“; said Tagaq as she accepted the prize thanks to her full-length Animism. “I couldn’t be more happy.“
The evening’s big winner also touched on another subject during her speech.
“People should wear and eat seal as much as possible because if you can imagine an indigenous culture thriving and surviving on sustainable resource, wearing seal and eating it, it’s delicious and there’s lots of them,“; Tagaq told the crowd at The Carlu. “I really believe that if hipsters can make flower beards in, then you can do it with seal. Come on, guys.”;
A “f*** PETA”; also made its way into the mix as well.
In addition to her speech at the ceremony, Tagaq also released a statement regarding her Polaris Music Prize victory.
“We’ve been doing it our own way without backing down artistically or conforming, so to be recognized in this way and have so many people latch on makes me feel the world is tolerable,”; shared Tagaq. “There’s so much hurt in the world and within indigenous cultures with colonialism. Canada is in a desperate need for repair and I think a lot of people are tired of living this way and just to have people understand where we’re coming from makes me have hope that we can move forward and expose the true history of Canada.“
This year’s edition of the Polaris Music Prize was hosted by Jay Baruchel.