During a bilingual broadcast hosted by Jean Hewson and Benoit Bourque over the weekend of April 10-11, the Canadian Folk Music Awards announced the winners of their 2021 Awards. Nineteen awards, along with the presentation of the Slaight Unsung Hero Award to Winnipeg’s Ava Kobrinsky, were handed out. While the top winners were Pharis & Jason Romero with their three wins, not far behind are Beòlach who brought two awards home to Nova Scotia this year.
The Cape Breton four-piece won the 2021 Instrumental Group of the Year and Traditional Album of the Year for their album All Hands. Hardly an isolated incident, for its lively take on the traditional sounds of Ireland, Scotland and Cape Breton the album has also received nominations for a Juno and four East Coast Music Awards.
“The CMFA were the very first nominations ever for this new formation of Beòlach, and to say we were excited is an understatement!” says Màiri Rankin, Beòlach’s longtime fiddle player. “Wendy [MacIsaac] and I have both had the honour of winning CFMA’s in the past and to now share it with Mac [Morin] and Matt [MacIsaac] is a ‘pinch me’ moment.”
“The album was a long process, as some sets were put together years ago and then some put together right before recording, but we all agreed on the same thing: our goal was to create a strong, solid Cape Breton sound that has one foot in the past and one in the present.”
Beòlach performed as part of the event’s livestreamed music festival, taking to the digital stage on Thursday night for an evening hosted by Graham Lindsey & April O’Donoughue.
“The socially distanced show ended up being a fun day in the studio at Lakewind in Point Aconi,” says Rankin. “This could not have been at all possible without the help of Mike Shepherd as the videographer/ engineer/ lighting guy and maker of the best coffees.”
In total, three awards went to Atlantic Canadian artists, with the Younger Performer(s) of the Year Award going to fellow Scotians The Gilberts. The only other artist to receive two awards at this year’s CFMA is Manitoba’s William Prince for Contemporary Album of the Year and English Songwriter(s) of the Year.
The full list of 2021 Canadian Folk Music Award nominees and winners are:
Children’s Album of the Year / Album jeunesse de l’année
Broccoli Farm – Claire Ness
Goodnight To You All – Charlie Hope
Small But Mighty – Ginalina
The Mountain Man – Spencer Burton
Tous musiciens – Henri Godon
Contemporary Album of the Year / Album contemporain de l’année
Are You in Love? – Basia Bulat
At the Edge of the World – Mike McKenna Jr.
Coyote – Catherine MacLellan
Drifters – Joe Nolan
Reliever – William Prince
Sugar & Joy – The Dead South
The Unconquerable Past – Stephen Fearing
Yours To Break – The East Pointers
Contemporary Singer of the Year / Chanteur contemporain de l’année
Coco Love Alcorn – Rebirth
Basia Bulat – Are You in Love?
Tim Chaisson – Yours To Break
Catherine MacLellan – Coyote
William Prince – Reliever
English Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur compositeur(s) anglophone de l’année
Coco Love Alcorn – Rebirth
Basia Bulat – Are You in Love?
William Prince – Reliever
Pharis & Jason Romero – Bet On Love
Sarah Jane Scouten – Confessions
Julian Taylor – The Ridge
Ensemble of the Year / Groupe de l’année
OKAN – Sombras
Pharis & Jason Romero – Bet On Love
Sultans of String – Refuge
Sussex – The Ocean Wide
The Dead South – Sugar & Joy
French Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur-compositeur(s) francophone de l’année
Guillaume Arsenault – La partie de moi qui tremble
Raphaël Delahaye – Le sens de la dérive
Marie-Ève Lapierre-Lemoyne – Onze
Flavie Léger-Roy – Ce chapeau est trop grand pour moi
Alexandre Poulin – Nature humaine
Indigenous Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur compositeur(s) autochtone de l’année
Jason & Nadia Burnstick – Kîyânaw
A.W. Cardinal – Bare Knuckles & Brawn
Leela Gilday – North Star Calling
Riit – ataataga
Crystal Shawanda – Church House Blues
Instrumental Group of the Year / Groupe instrumental de l’année
Beòlach – All Hands
Emilyn Stam & John David Williams – Honeywood
Gordon Grdina’s The Marrow – Safar-E-Daroon
Jessica Deutsch & Ozere – Traces
Rhizome – Double capture
Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year / Instrumentiste solo de l’année
Marc Atkinson – Solo
Benjamin Barrile – Esperando el Alba
Gordon Grdina – Prior Street
Nick Hornbuckle – 13 or So
Natalie MacMaster – Sketches
New/Emerging Artist(s) of the Year / Artiste(s) de la relève de l’année
Noah Derksen – America, Dreaming
Marie-Ève Laure – Onze
Maya Rae – Can You See Me?
Emily Rockarts – Little Flower
Rum Ragged – The Thing About Fish
Emily Triggs – Middletown
Producer(s) of the Year / Réalisateur(s) de l’année
Dave Clarke & Bill Garrett – Coming Home (Steel Rail)
Roy Forbes – Edge of Blue (Roy Forbes)
Marc Jenkins – Bet On Love (Pharis & Jason Romero)
Dayna Manning – Morning Light (Dayna Manning)
Chris McKhool & John ‘Beetle’ Bailey – Refuge (Sultans of String)
Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award / Prix Innovation musicale Oliver Schroer
Aerialists – Dear Sienna
Mélisande [Électrotrad] – Les myriades
Riit – ataataga
The East Pointers – Yours To Break
The Henrys – Paydirt
Single of the Year / Monoplage de l’année
K’eintah Natse Ju – Leela Gilday (Producer / Réalisateur: Hill Kourkoutis)
Some Kind of Hell – Burnstick (Producers / Réalisateurs: Jason & Nadia Burnstick)
The Spark – William Prince (Producers / Réalisateurs: Scott Nolan, Dave Cobb)
Wintergreen – The East Pointers (Producer / Réalisateur: Gordie Sampson)
Yellowknife – Craig Cardiff (Producer / Réalisateur: Craig Cardiff)
Solo Artist of the Year / Artiste solo de l’année
Catherine MacLellan – Coyote
Lynn Miles – We’ll Look For Stars
William Prince – Reliever
Riit – ataataga
Julian Taylor – The Ridge
Traditional Album of the Year / Album traditionnel de l’année
All Hands – Beòlach
Bet On Love – Pharis & Jason Romero
Crowing Ignites – Bruce Cockburn
Debout! – Le Diable à Cinq
The Lost Tapes – Ian & Sylvia
Traditional Singer of the Year / Chanteur traditionnel de l’année
Mike Bravener – Depends Upon The Pay
Kevin Harvey – Hand me Down Blues
Mark Manning – The Thing About Fish
Lou Natale – Workin’ the Mystery
Pharis Romero – Bet On Love
Vocal Group of the Year / Groupe vocal l’année
Beauséjour – Beauséjour
Big Little Lions – Inside Voice
Kennedy Road – A Little Fight Left Yet
Pharis & Jason Romero – Bet On Love
The Barrel Boys – Mainline
World Album of the Year / Album de musiques du monde de l’année
Africa Without Borders – Okavango African Orchestra
Kora flamenca – Zal Sissokho
La Serena – Aviva Chernick
Patria – Mazacote
Sombras – OKAN
Young Performer(s) of the Year / Jeune artiste(s) de l’année
Maya Rae – Can You See Me?
Moscow Apartment – Better Daughter
Paige Penney – Watch Out For Your Step
Quin With One N – Out of the Blue
The Gilberts – The Gilberts: One