Quinn celebrates win at Aboriginal music awards

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Lucie Idlout could not think of a more appropriate person to anoint her as the new queen of Canadian Aboriginal music.

Idlout was presented with her award for best female artist at this year's Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards by Leela Gilday, who won in that category last year. Idlout and Gilday hail from Nunavut.

In fact, when Nunavut officially became a territory in 1999, Idlout and Gilday joined forces to write a song called For This Land.

"I couldn't think of a better person to sort of pass the torch on to me," said Idlout, who has been living in Toronto for the past year.

Idlout was honored for her efforts on her debut CD called E5-770, My Mother's Name.

"I didn't believe in a million years that it would be me winning this award," said Idlout, adding she felt one of the other two nominees-Saskatoon's Andrea Menard or Winnipeg's Kimberly Dawn-would be selected the winner.

As for the best male artist award, that was presented to Saskatoon's Jay Ross. Though he has made a living from playing music his entire adult life, Ross, 30, has only been writing and playing his own material for about three years.

After about a decade of performing cover tunes, Ross opted to take the gamble to do his own stuff.

"I was tired of it," he said of playing other people's music. "It wasn't getting me anywhere."

Ross was getting his fair share of work at the time, but he thought he could do better.

"You can get gigs," he said. "But you can get better gigs. I realized the only way I'm going to get somewhere is to write my own stuff."

Ross released his debut CD titled Old Town this past year. The CD includes the track Molanosa, a song about the tiny Saskatchewan town where Ross began playing music (the drums) at age eight.

A total of 17 awards were handed out during the ceremony held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Nov. 28. Three artists-Tru Rez Crew, Burnt and Sandy Scofield- ended up winning a pair of awards each.

Carl Quinn of Saddle Lake won in the best contemporary traditional album category for his recording Nehiyo.

Tru Rez Crew, a collection of rappers from Six Nations, Ont., took top honors in the best rap or hip hop category for their CD titled Ain't No Turnin' Back. Tru Rez Crew also won for best song for its song I'm A Lucky One.

Jasmine Netsena, the lone female in 10-member Tru Rez Crew, said her group was shocked to win the best song award, because it's rare to have a rap song voted the best in an over-all music awards competition.

"It's awesome," Netsensa said. "I've never really heard of that happening before."

Burnt is a Winnipeg-based band that won the best rock album category for its CD called Project 1-The Avenue. The band's lead singer, David Boulanger, working with Maggie Ross won in the best album cover design division.

As for Scofield, a Vancouver resident, she took the best folk album with Ketwam. Scofield and Shael Wrinch shared honors in the best producer/engineer category for their work on the same CD.

The Wolfpack of Six Nations, which consists of five brothers-Darren, James, Chad, Jason and Troy Martin-were deemed to have the best blues album. Lead vocalist Jason Martin said the band's debut album entitled Every lil Thing has far exceeded expectations, especially considering it was an independent project.

"We did everything on our own in our own basement," Jason Martin said, adding the brothers produced and even marketed their own CD. "To win an award for it is just breathtaking."

The Wolfpack produced 1,500 copies of its first CD at a cost of about $2,000. Every lil Thing came out this past May and the band had only about 200 copies remaining as of late November.

Other Ontario winners were David R. Maracle, the Whitefish Bay Singers and Remedy. Maracle, who lives on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory on the Bay of Quinte, was presented with an award for having the best instrumental album, entitled Natural Resources.

The Whitefish Bay Singers had the best traditional historial album-Anishinaabe Meenigoziwin.

And Remedy, a band from Moose Factory, Man. captured the best group or duo category.

Other award winners included Saskatoon's Chester Knight, a 45-year-old former Juno Award winner who was chosen as the best songwriter.

"I really appreciate it because I've been a songwriter for a very long time," Knight said. "And there are a lot of good songwriters out there."

Knight was honored for his efforts on Standing Strong, his third album.

A pair of other Saskatoon-based winners were the Young Scouts and Wildhorse. The Young Scouts' CD entitled Meet Ya At The Round Dance was picked as the best hand drum album. And Wildhorse's CD, entitled All or Nothing, was named the best contemporary powwow album.

Mitch Daigneault from Fishing Lake won for best country album-Keep On Believing.