Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq was awarded the prestigious Polaris Prize for her album Animism Monday night (September 22) in Toronto at the Polaris Prize Gala.
Photo Credit: Tanya Tagaq

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq wins prestigious Polaris Prize

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq was awarded the prestigious Polaris Prize Monday night (September 22) for her album Animism besting the nine other albums on the Polaris Short List.

Before the announcement in Toronto, Tagaq performed a version of her song “Uja” from the album, accompanied by a 40-member choir during the Polaris Gala.

“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,” said Tagaq In a statement after her win.

“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.”

The Polaris Prize goes to the best Canadian album of the year based on “artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation.” A jury of 11 music media professionals drawn from the greater Polaris jury pool of over 200 writers, editors, broadcasters, DJs and personalities from across the country chose Tagaq the winner.

More information:
Toronto Star – Tanya Tagaq wins $30K Polaris Music Prize, urges people to ‘wear and eat seal’- here
Globe and Mail – A deserved Polaris win for Tanya Tagaq – here
CBC News – Tagaq stirs crowd with performance, acceptance speech – here
Polaris Prize – Tanya Tagaq Wins The 2014 Polaris Music Prize – here
Tanya Tagaq website – tanyatagaq.com

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