For more details and photos, go to:
http://www.socan.ca/news/23rd-annual-socan-awards-toronto
The Canadian music industry gathered at
Roy Thomson Hall in
Toronto on Nov. 19,
2012, to honour many of
Canada's most talented songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers at the
23rd annual
SOCAN Awards Gala. Hosted in a very lively manner by
CTV's
Seamus O'Regan, the SOCAN Awards acknowledged SOCAN members' outstanding national and international achievements in
2011.
Presented by SOCAN and sponsored by Gowlings,
KPMG and NOW weekly, the SOCAN Awards Gala recognizes the accomplishments of
Canadian songwriters in pop/rock, dance, urban, country, jazz, folk/roots, classical, film & television, and
International categories. Recipients of SOCAN's major achievement awards this year were
Bruce Cockburn, who won the
Lifetime Achievement Award;
Trooper, who earned the
National Achievement
Award; and
Joel Zimmerman, aka deadmau5, who garnered the
International Achievement Award, in recognition of his outstanding worldwide success in 2011.
SOCAN members
Dean Brody,
Kristina Maria,
Alex Cuba,
Hedley's
Jacob Hoggard,
Fefe Dobson,
David Myles,
Mychael Danna and
Bob Ezrin were all in attendance to receive their awards.
Performers at the show included electro-pop group
Dragonette, who opened the proceedings with a bang; pop tunesmith
Hawksley Workman, who lead a three-song medley -- with
Royal Wood and
Serena Ryder -- that lit up the night in tribute to Bruce Cockburn; indie-rock trio
Young Rival, who shook the rafters with their viral YouTube sensation "
Restless"; and urban star
Danny Fernandes, who brought unprecedented hip-hop beats to the refined confines of Roy Thomson Hall.
The evening was filled with celebration and accolades. SOCAN members receiving songwriting honours included:
Three Days Grace for "
Lost in You,"
Michael Bublé and
Robert Grant Scott for "
Hollywood," and
K'NAAN for "
The Lazy Song" in the pop/rock category;
JRDN for "Like
Magic" in the urban music category; and
Johnny Reid for "
Let's Go Higher" in the country music category.
Bublé and Scott earned a second win with the International
Song Award for "Hollywood," while
Ra McGuire and
Brian Smith of Trooper received three SOCAN
Classic Awards for "
Janine," "
General Hand Grenade" and "
Raise A Little Hell," all of which have earned more than
100,
000 radio airplays.
The evening was also filled with humour. Dragonette's
Martina Sorbara joked that
Martin Solveig -- the co-writer of her
Dance Music Award-winning song "
Hello" -- deserved "half of this award, or technically, more than half." Presenter
Raoul Bhaneja improvised a little harmonica solo, then joked that he would file a SOCAN
Notice of
Live Music Performance form online to collect royalties for it.
Stephen Chatman, winner of the
Jan V. Matajcek new classical music award said that he felt "so fortunate to be standing here, because most classical composers are dead."
Mark Gane, who won a SOCAN Classic Award for writing the
Martha & The Muffins hit song "
Echo Beach," allowed that it was only the third song he ever wrote, and that he's still surprised at its success. Presenter
Damhnait Doyle recalled watching Bruce Cockburn from behind the stage at a folk festival, "and all I could think was, '
Bruce's ass looks great in those cargo pants.'"
At the end of the night, host Seamus O'Regan donned a deadmau5 hoodie, complete with mouse ears and face mask, to introduce a video tribute to the electronic music wizard, who couldn't attend the show.
On a more serious note, almost all of the awards winners thanked radio for playing their songs, and SOCAN for "fighting for our rights." Trooper's Ra McGuire said he was "proud to be part of the Canadian community of songwriters, composers and music-makers." Bruce Cockburn said the live tribute to his songs made him want to get up and play, and that it was "great fun to hear those songs performed tonight," and added that he's "uncomfortable thinking of myself as having a career
...I was just doing what there was to do."
"
Original music brings joy to
Canadians," says SOCAN
CEO Eric Baptiste. "
It's essential to our national pride and culture. Our songwriters and composers continue to create music that is being played both at home and around the world, while our publishers work diligently to expand the markets for
Canadian music. We're proud to congratulate all of the SOCAN Award recipients for their accomplishments."
SOCAN also recognizes outstanding Francophone music creators and publishers at an awards gala on Nov. 21, 2012, at the
Hyatt Regency in
Montreal. A wide-ranging variety of SOCAN members will join host
Michel Faubert in celebration of this year's Francophone
SOCAN award recipients.
- published: 11 Mar 2013
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