Winners of the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize Announced
First, there’s the Polaris Music Prize, the award given out to the best album released in Canada over the previous twelve months. But Polaris has only been around for about a decade. What about all the great Canadian records that were released before Polaris came along? That’s where the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize comes in.
The process is much like what we see with Polaris. First comes four short lists, each involving releases from a specific timespan. Two winners for each era are picked: one by a jury of music industry people (full disclosure: I’m one) and the other based on public voting. The survey began on September 18 and closed on October 19.
Here are this year’s winners.
1960 – 1975
Public: Gordon Lightfoot — Lightfoot!
Jury: The Band — The Band
1976 – 1985
Public: Harmonium — L’Heptade
Jury: Glenn Gould – Bach: The Goldberg Variations
1986 – 1995
Public: The Tragically Hip — Fully Completely
Jury: Eric’s Trip — Love Tara
1996 – 2005
Public: Feist — Let It Die
Jury: k-os — Joyful Rebellion
If you were rooting for other artists on the short lists, fear not. They’ll be held over to the 2018 vote.
