By Will McGuirk
Congolese-born, Montreal-based musician, songwriter, and DJ Pierre Kwenders is the winner of the 2022 Polaris Music Prize.
The prize was handed out at an in-person gala held at the Carlu in Toronto Tuesday Sept 20 2022, the first live event of the award show since the pandemic and was broadcast live on a variety of streaming platforms as well as CBC.ca (where I watched it).
Kwenders won for his album ‘José Louis and the Paradox of Love’ (available via Arts & Crafts) which combines Congolese rumba and electronic music with pop-R&B and jazz, adds in vocals sung and rapped in Lingala, French, English, Tshiluba, and Kikongo, AND features collaborations with Tendai Maraire (Shabazz Palaces), Branko (M.I.A., Buraka som Sistema), Win Butler (Arcade Fire), Michael Brun (J Balvin), and Uproot Andy (Poirier).
The Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales. The nine other nominated acts whose albums make the 2022 Short List will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music. Additionally, Polaris Music Prize has partnered with Play MPE to award the winning artist with a global music promotion distribution package for one release (single or album) worth up to $3,025 CAD. Play MPE will also gift all nine remaining Short List artists with distribution packages worth up to $1,000 CAD each.
Kwenders joins a pretty rad list of past winners; Cadence Weapon (2021), Backxwash (2020), Haviah Mighty (2019), Jeremy Dutcher (2018), Lido Pimienta (2017), Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
