ARTISTS JIBE AT JUNOS Michael Bublé was pleased with his four trophies, but discontent broke through the surface at Canada's annual music awards last night in Halifax Ben Rayner – Toronto Star There's been talk of a revolution in Canadian music these past few years, but it was croon-pop schlockmeister Michael Bublé striking decisive blows for the old guard all weekend long at this year's Juno Awards.
The suit-and-tied Vancouver throwback to the swingin' cocktail-lounge sounds of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett walked away from the Halifax Metro Centre with four statues by the time two consecutive nights of award presentations wound down with CTV's starstruck Juno broadcast last night.
Bublé, a critical punching bag who has nevertheless logged massive record sales on both sides of the border putting schmaltzy spins on familiar pop standards, collected trophies for Artist of the Year, Single of the Year for "Home" and Album and Pop Album of the Year for his sophomore album, This Time.
"I don't know what to say. I feel like Kelly Clarkson a bit," he quipped after his fourth trip to the podium. Later, clutching his four trophies and babbling with endearing enthusiasm, he told the press backstage: "It was only a few years ago that a nervous young kid won Best New Artist and I walked into this room and they asked if anyone had any questions and no one did. Until someone said: `Is it `Booble' or `Bubble'?' ...
"I know there are some people who hate what I do, I know there are some people who love it and there are some people who don't give a damn. But my family loves it and they're the most important to me."
The rest of the winners at the closing ceremony, unevenly hosted by ex-pat Vancouver Island sex kitten Pamela Anderson, painted a somewhat more contemporary picture of today's vibrant, internationally celebrated domestic music scene.
Popular Montreal pop-punk moppets Simple Plan received more votes than Céline Dion, Nickelback and Diana Krall — and denied five-time nominee Bublé a sweep — to pick up the Fan Choice Award.
Young Kingston fusioneers Bedouin Soundclash — whose "When the Night Feels My Song," released on the tiny Montreal ska label Stomp Records has been an international smash — were named new group of the year. Indie-rock orchestras Broken Social Scene and the Arcade Fire, meanwhile, collected a trophy apiece.
Many observers felt Montreal underground heroes the Arcade Fire, still selling thousands of copies of its two-year-old Funeral album around the world each week, were unfairly snubbed in major categories that awarded eight nominations to Canadian Idol refugees yet largely ignored the country's thriving independent music scene. Arcade Fire's win in the Songwriter of the Year category for "Wake Up," "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)" thus seemed less like a a triumphant moment than a conciliatory one.
Shaggy-dog Torontonians Broken took home their second Alternative Album Juno for their eponymous second album and injected a welcome note of unpredictability by bringing a full complement of 16 Social Scenesters (including exiled-in-Paris songbird and former Juno winner Leslie Feist, who lost Single of the Year to Bublé) to perform a rangy version of "Ibi: Dreams of Pavement" on the show.
"We didn't have this many people with us last time so we can all celebrate a little more this time," remarked bassist Brendan Canning, joined backstage by a boozy extended Broken family that included producer Dave Newfeld, the Arts and Crafts label staff and Toronto rapper k-os.
The presence of the likes of Broken, iconoclastic Halifax rapper Buck 65 and Bedouin Soundclash playing alongside Nickelback, Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Adams and slumming foreigners Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas, as well as the decision to present the Alternative Album award on air for the first time, were somewhat face-saving gestures. The Junos have drawn intense criticism this year for largely ignoring the independent-music explosion that's made Canadian acts like Broken, Feist and the Fire, Death from Above 1979, Metric and Hot Hot Heat hot international commodities.
The final awards breakdown — which also witnessed double wins for Nickelback, Neil Young and Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra — actually came out slightly more representative of what's going on in Canada today than the emphasis on CTV's Canadian Idol franchise, but that didn't stop some sniping throughout the night.
K-os shrugged off his on-camera introduction to Coldplay's performance by mumbling something about profits and cynicism, while presenter Kardinal Offishall quipped on camera that he was just going to present the Artist of the Year award to himself, "because they never give me a Juno."
Backstage, too, the Broken Social Scene horde made a point of expressing its distaste for the short-sighted industry thinking that's given us three seasons' worth of sacrificial Idol lambs.
"I feel really sorry for the kids on Canadian Idol because they're going absolutely nowhere and I think it's a trick," said Scenester Kevin Drew.
The lads in bi-racial trio Bedouin Soundclash took aim at the indie-rock nation embodied by Broken and Arcade Fire for not being representative of Canada's diverse makeup and failing to live up to its potential for "a more multicultural approach." They praised host city Halifax and elder statesmen like Sloan and Joel Plaskett (formerly of Thrush Hermit), however, for nurturing a local early-`90s indie scene "that helped put Canada on the map."
"It's really nice to get out of Toronto. People in Halifax just like music. It's totally unpretentious ..."
Anderson's wobbly standup skills as host weren't exactly helped along by her attempt at the top of the broadcast to draw attention back to her fight against the Newfoundland seal hunt. "One of my favourite artists couldn't be here tonight: Seal. He was afraid he was going to get clubbed to death," she said.
Alan Doyle, front man for Newfoundland folk-rockers Great Big Sea, missed an opportunity to shoot back when he later co-presented the Songwriter of the Year award. It was left to Alberta girl Jann Arden to offer a retort: "I just want everyone to know that my brassiere is made entirely of seal eyelids." |