Polaris Music Prize Announces Gala Host, Performers And Jury Members

CBC personality and former Moxy Fruvous frontman Jian Ghomeshi will host the inaugural Polaris Music Prize ceremony to honour the best Canadian album of the past year on September 18 at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre.

"Jian's experiences as a live performer, a broadcaster and a Canadian music aficionado made him the obvious choice to master our ceremonies," says Polaris executive director Steve Jordan.

Ghomeshi will welcome five of the 10 prize finalists to perform at the invitation-only gala. Edmonton's Cadence Weapon, Toronto's Final Fantasy and K'Naan, Montreal's Malajube and Kingston, Ontario's Sarah Harmer are slated to play.

"Our invited guests are in for a special night, given the depth of character and unpredictability of the performing nominees," says Jordan. "With such a wide range of styles on display, it's a shame they're not playing their nominated albums in full."

The five other finalists — Broken Social Scene, The Deadly Snakes, Metric, The New Pornographers and Wolf Parade — will also be in attendance.

The winner will be determined during the show by a panel of 11 authorities who were selected from a larger group of judges, comprised of journalists and broadcasters, who decided upon the initial list of nominees and the 10 to make the shortlist.

The judges are: Rupert Bottenberg (Montreal Mirror); Aaron Brophy (Chart); Matt Galloway (CBC Radio); James Keast (Exclaim!); Grant Lawrence (CBC Radio 3); Sarah Liss (NOW); John Sakamoto (Toronto Star); Helen Spitzer (CFRU); Nicolas Tittley (MusiquePlus); Carl Wilson (The Globe & Mail); and Jill Wilson (Winnipeg Free Press).

The Polaris winner will receive $20,000, while all 10 nominees will go home with individually numbered poster prints designed by 10 Canadian graphic artists. Just 30 copies of each print will be produced.

Each invited guest will receive one of 300 cloth-bound, embossed copies of the Polaris program and album.