There was much jealous chatter among the plebeians lurking in the balcony of the Phoenix during the early stages of last night’s Polaris Music Prize gala, gazing longingly at those Stephen Harper-maligned elitists below as they sat smugly at their fancy tables. Just kidding. As you might imagine, much of the banter by the hosts, presenters and performers addressed the Conservative leader’s attacks on arts funding. Sure, the awareness of global-financial chaos loomed in the background — gala host Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 quipped, “If the world as we know it’s going to end, you should really go get another drink.”
But we hung out: the freelance writers trying to scrape together enough for rent rubbing shoulders with the the agents in leather jackets, Buck 65 (who blushed when CBC colleague Lawrence big-upped the MC’s Radio 2 hosting gig) standing across the room from Much personality Devon Soltendieck (who in person resembles the baby-faced Ken doll we all suspect he is). We chewed on stale bread sticks and flaccid carrots, and swayed gently to Basia Bulat’s shimmering autoharp riffs and sheepishly headbanging along with Black Mountain (who, I swear, look creepily like BC’s answer to the Manson Family) as they pounded out gloriously sludgy stoner riffs, trying not to think about the country’s arts infrastructure burning.
Earlier this week, T.O. music stalwart Evan Newman (manager, Baudelaire label founder and Outside employee) put forward a totally rosy-coloured proposition. Rightly noting that voters within the left-leaning arts community are split between the three non-Conservative parties, he suggested some sort of negotiation process. “If the arts community and people concerned about the arts want to make a difference, it's probably best to rally behind one candidate,” he insisted in a Facebook post. “Make your voice heard in that regard rather spending energy encouraging people not to support Harper. Splitting the vote amongst three candidates will only push Harper into more power.”
According to Newman, we need a representative to barter with the candidates, who “in exchange for the support of the arts community via the vote, would reinstate the federal funding as well as implementing new funding programs throughout their term.” It’s a naïve notion, to be sure, but he’s correct in worrying that a divided vote will merely result in the return of a Conservative majority.
There’s been a substantial amount of criticism of the relative lack of diversity in the acts that wind up on the Polaris shortlist (I know; I’ve been one of the critics). And while I still think it’d be awesome to see a Polaris gala that featured more hip-hop artists, jazz performers and acts whose work falls outside even the purview of college radio, I’ll admit even I got caught up in Lawrence’s absurd but rather poetic attempts to explain how the Polaris nominees — from nerdy sonic mastermind and prize winner Caribou, a.k.a. Dan Snaith, who holds a Ph.D in mathematics, to conscious Canadian rapper Shad to Harper whipping boys Holy Fuck, who delivered the night’s most spectacular performance — truly did represent Canada.
There was a heartening sense of community solidarity in the room, a collective rush to celebrate the rather remarkable talent on offer. And yet, you couldn’t help but wonder how many of the nominees would’ve been able to create (and promote) such fine albums without government support for Canadian musicians.