Jeremy Dutcher made Canadian music history Tuesday night by winning a second Polaris Music Prize for his second album, Motewolonuwok. Dutcher is the first artist to win the $50,000 prize twice, after taking home the prestigious award in 2018 for his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa. “Last night was the most beautiful celebration and the, like, closing of a circle that was at least five years in the making.
Maybe 33,” said Dutcher. “I'm just on top of the world.” The artist, who is a member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, was chosen from shortlist of ten acclaimed finalists which included The Beaches, Allison Russell and Charlote Cardin.
The winner was picked by a jury made up of journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada. “I love the format of making albums and so for me, when an entire industry kind of points to you and says, ‘Well, this is the one we want to lift up this year’, that feels really good,” Dutcher said. Dutcher’s first record Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa was sung in Wolastoqey, a language he’s passionate about helping to revitalize.
His second album is the first time he sings in both English and Wolastoqey. “Even though I'm singing in English for the first time, still it's rooted within my vision, which is to see the proliferation and thriving of our of our languages, indigenous languages here in Canada,” he said. Dutcher said he hopes this record helps people consider that loss, joy, pain and celebration are all a.