(REGINA) December 2, 2021

​

SaskMusic today announced the nominees of the 2021 Saskatchewan Music Awards, via a streamed event. The awards are intended to honour excellence and celebrate the achievements of our Saskatchewan music industry members over the past year. The 2021 awards event will take place in a streaming format on January 20/2022 via SaskMusic’s social media pages. Performers for the virtual event will be announced at a later date. Today’s announcement also included the long list for The Best Saskatchewan Albums of 2021. Now in its seventh year, this annual year-end list was created to draw attention to fantastic Saskatchewan music released in a broad range of styles, and now goes forward for public voting to determine the winner of Album of the Year.

​

SaskMusic Executive Director Mike Dawson noted, “We are once again inspired by the talented artists of our province, who continued to create amazing music this year. Our industry continues to be heavily challenged by the pandemic, with the livelihoods of musicians and music businesses worldwide affected, but we are encouraged by the resilience and optimism of our industry members. We look forward to celebrating the music of our province with the awards this January.”

​

The SMAs are being held in conjunction with the Very Prairie Music Summit, an educational event for the Saskatchewan music industry, which will also be held online, January 21-23. We are hoping to incorporate some in-person elements as well. Please follow SaskMusic’s social media accounts, and www.saskmusicawards.com, for updates.

​

SaskMusic would like to thank Creative Saskatchewan and FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) for their support.

​

Public voting on Industry Achievement, Venue of the Year, and Best Saskatchewan Albums is now closed.

 

 

THE NOMINEES

​

Alternative Artist of the Year

• Carson Shmyr

• Megan Nash

• Slow Down Molasses

• The Garrys

• The Steadies

​​

Country Artist of the Year

• Amanda Hagel

• Ches Anthony

• Hunter Brothers

• Jess Moskaluke

• Munro & Patrick

​​

Electronic Artist of the Year

• Ava Wild & Merky Waters

• Nige B

• Patrick Moon Bird

• RUMPUS

• Theo Noble

 

Experimental/Contemporary Artist of the Year

• ADEOLUWA

• Factor Eight

• Jesse Brown

• Marie-Véronique Bourque

• The Faps

​​

Hip Hop Artist of the Year

• Alex Bent + the Emptiness

• Ev Thompson

• Pimpton

• RaytheNihilist

• Rooky

• soso

​​

Metal/Loud Artist of the Year

• Alien to the Ignorant

• Before & Apace

• Flash Back

• Swayze

• Tyler Gilbert

​​

R&B Artist of the Year

• Ariel

• Emanali

• MELODNA

• Namoo Nara

• People of the Sun

• TOVA

• vbnd

​​

Rock/Pop Artist of the Year

• Étienne Fletcher

• Megan Nash

• Scott Klein

• The Garrys

• velours

• W3APONS

​​

Roots/Folk Artist of the Year

• Andino Suns

• Jay & Jo

• Jeffery Straker

• Last Birds

• The North Sound

• Wolf Willow

​​

Indigenous Artist of the Year

• Jarrid Lee

• The North Sound

• The Northwest Kid

• vbnd

• Yvonne St.Germaine

​

Music Video of the Year

• Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for Jeffery Straker - Ready to Be Brave

• Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for Spiritbox - Hurt You

• Dylan Hryciuk - Versa Films for velours - Whatever That Means

• Gavin Baird for Alex Bent + the Emptiness - 2sides

• Play Creative for Megan Nash & the Best of Intentions - Chew Quietly / Clean Slate

• RAKK Productions, cinematographer Ryley Konechney for Minda Donaldo - Remember December

• Tanner Goetz for Jess Moskaluke - Mapdot

 

Single of the Year

• Hunter Brothers, “Been A Minute”

• Hunter Brothers, “Diamonds”

• Jess Moskaluke, “Nothin' I Don't Love About You”

• Jesse Brown & Rich Batsford, “Whispered Winds”

• Nowujalo, “Wake Up”

• Shantaia, “Had A Good Weekend”

• Tesher x Jason Derulo, “Jalebi Baby”

• The Sunset Kids, “I Wanna Be”

• vbnd feat. Katie Tupper and The Soulmate Collective, “Slowly Starting to Take Form”

• W3APONS, “Bye Baby Gone”

 

Industry Achievement

• Broadway Theatre

• Dale McArthur

• Eliza Doyle

• Grey Records 

• Songs for Nature Team

 

Producer of the Year

• Bart McKay

• Chris Dimas

• Factor Eight

• Hal Schrenk

• Josh Palmer

 

Venue of the Year

• Broadway Theatre

• Conexus Arts Centre

• Hanks Tavern

• The Happy Nun

 

Notes to the categories:

• The recipient of the new Indigenous Music Achievement award will be announced at the awards celebration on January 20. Nominees are not announced for this category.

• Single of the Year is a data-determined category which can include any genre. All other categories were determined by juries comprised of music industry members.

• R&B Artist of the Year is a new category for 2021.

• For the first time this year, the winner of Industry Achievement and Venue of the Year will be determined by a combination of jury marks and public vote.

​

Album of the Year
THE BEST SASKATCHEWAN ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: LONG LIST

​

From all the qualifying full-length album submissions received this year, jurors selected our Long List of 37 albums. Now we turn to the public to determine the Top Ten of 2021, and ultimately the recipient of Album of the Year. We encourage music lovers to discover new albums and then vote for their favourites before the midnight December 16/21 deadline. Only one vote per email/IP address will be counted for the duration of the voting period.

 

A sample playlist of the Long List is available on Spotify (we live there as “SaskMusic Ziggy”) and YouTube.

 

The Top 10 albums will be announced via SaskMusic’s social media the week of December 20. More information and voting information is available at www.SaskatchewanMusicAwards.com.

 

The 2021 BSA Long List

• A R I E, Misconceptions

• Alien to the Ignorant, A Dying Art

• Amanda Hagel, Be The Light

• Andino Suns, 9/11

• Ariel, Libra

• Ava Wild and Merky Waters, Existing

• Beach Body, Walking Holiday

• Blume Hinges, Build Your Castle Inside of a Mountain

• Ches Anthony, Stories From Yesterday and Today

• Étienne Fletcher, Entre-deux

• Ev Thompson, Roller Coaster

• Flash Back, Wide Awake

• The Garrys, Get Thee to a Nunnery

• The Helpless, The Helpless

• Hunter Brothers, Been A Minute

• Jake Vaadeland, Retro Man

• Jeff D. Michel, Back to the Moon

• Jeffery Straker, Just Before Sunrise

• Jess Moskaluke, The Demos

• Karissa Hoffart, Life of Mine

• Last Birds, Last Birds

• Marie-Claire, From the Red Room

• Marie-Véronique Bourque, Entre Québec & Saskatchewan

• Munro & Patrick, Give Me Your Rain

• Peace Flag Ensemble, Noteland

• People of the Sun, Last Day of Summer

• Ritual Rabbits, The Middle of Somewhere

• The Saskatchewan All Stars Big Band, The Saskatchewan Suite

• Seven Mile Sun, Light In The Dark

• Skip Jr. Campbell & Dream Creeps, Skip Jr. Campbell & Dream Creeps

• Slow Down Molasses, Minor Deaths

• Trash Hawks, Being Ill

• Tucker Lane, Random Fireworks on a Beach Obscured By Trees

• Tyler Gilbert, The Fallen

• vbnd, Scum Funk

• W3APONS, Adios Radio

• Wolf Willow, Old Guitars & Shooting Stars

​

​

​

SaskMusic is a non-profit, member-based association that represents, promotes and develops the artists and commercial music industry of Saskatchewan, both domestically and internationally. We offer one-on-one guidance, workshops, marketing and export assistance, career development opportunities, peer sessions, artist and business listings, and more. From songwriters and freelance musicians to studios, we work with artists and industry members across our province, in an extensive range of genres and skill levels. SaskMusic is a source of information and resources for both the public and the music industry.