2021 Music Awards

Music Award - Indie / Rock

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CFUR-FM: Bad, Not Cheap - Darcie Smith

Bad, Not Cheap is a weekly program on CFUR Radio in Prince George BC that features the bands you loved in university and then forgot about, with some guilty pleasure pop sprinkled in. The show has been on air since 2007 and is hosted by Darcie Smith, a pretty cool librarian who was recently described by her co-worker Darlene as "funny." Bad, Not Cheap is an audible love letter to friends she's lost touch with, grocery store faux pas, and the consequences of living with geriatric pets. The regular format of the program is an hour of music with over-sharing and personal anecdotes in between the sets.

The excerpts submitted are taken from episodes that aired in April, May, and December 2020, and give a glimpse into the sparkling content of Bad, Not Cheap. You'll hear a story about being ungrateful on your birthday, some self-deprecation, and sending the coworker you supervise a text intended for your lover. The music featured in this submission exemplifies the diverse content you can expect to hear on the show and includes The Organ, Danzig, Faith Healer, Mirah, and Saltwater Hank.

Past episodes can be found at https://www.mixcloud.com/darcevader/.

Music Award - Hip Hop / Funk

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CFFF-FM: HiphopTictactics - Our Best Episode Yet (Summary 2020) - Jordan Valters & Jason Stabler

DJ Tictactic (Jason) & Unlearn (Jordan) are two individuals who have had a long-lasting love for hiphop, community engagement, and local radio. We work extensively to connect with artists of all calibre, giving them an open door to an open platform where they are encouraged to freely express themselves, their beliefs, their culture, and their personal passion for music. We are currently syndicated via Trent Radio, and are featured on 5 other online platforms (Maximum FM, Digital Boombox Network, Theundergroundhiphop.com, and two other smaller platforms) - in addition to Niagara Community Radio. We typically run for 2 hours a week on each platform, and are extremely active in the hiphop community. The show was created in '98 beginning with Trent Radio.

This submission is a synopsis of what we consider our greatest episode ever, which also occurred in Fall of 2020. It features exclusive coverage of an interview we conducted with legendary Canadian artists Maestro Fresh Wes, Dub J, JRDN, and JD Era. It was the first interview they conducted before being interviewed on platforms like CBC and HiphopCanada among others. It also features a portion of their song "Wish I Could".

While our approach is laid back, we value our professionalism in communication with various management and PR agents. This article encompasses everything HiphopTictactics is about, from political aspects to community engagement - all through the love of Hiphop.

 

Music Award - Classical Music

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CICK-FM: Culture Shock - Toby Moisey

Toby Moisey (b. 1986) is a queer, cisgender white male residing on the territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta'an Kwäch'än Council. He is a graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia. Toby is Co-Director of the Whitehorse All-City bands, and performs as a member of Whitehorse funk band Major Funk and of Yukon’s own Problematic Orchestra. He has taught at the Orchestra North Summer Program in Smithers, Kitimat District Band Adventure and Yukon Summer Music Camp and explores many approaches to music though experimental performance. Toby has produced Culture Shock on CICK, Smithers Community Radio, for six years. Recently Culture Shock has been syndicated on CJUC Whitehorse Community Radio. Listeners to Culture Shock explore newly released and newly composed classical music andstories and explnations from the artists who make this music. This submission from November 14, 2020 includes a conversation with composer Scott Lee, and his recently released work 'Through the Mangrove Tunnels', performed by the JACK quartet. Toby talks with Scott about his connection to the land and how that has informed this work. In this excerpt Scott shares the story of William Cole, A young black man who was wrongfully accused of theft and murder, which is the basis of the longest and wildest movement in this work, 'The Ballad of Willie Cole'. This episode contains the whole of Scott Lee’s Composition 'Through the Mangrove Tunnels'.

Music Award - Country or Folk

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CFUV-FM: O Sister - James Vitti

Despite the mass crossover appeal of popular country artists like Taylor Swift and more recently, Lil Nas X, country music and country music broadcasting remains an imbalanced scenario which continues to minimize the work - historic and contemporary - of femme country musicians. In the program, O Sister, long-time CFUV volunteer, James Vitti embarks on his journey as a self-described “dude on a learning curve” as he demonstrates an incredible skill for researching the otherwise deliberately underplayed women in country music and their stories. In this submission, taken from the debut episode of O Sister, James describes the genesis of the show; his aim to challenge commercial broadcasting for it’s token approach to diversifying the airwaves; and his commitment to O Sister being a program that plays women artists and draws upon their biographies and histories to celebrate the pivotal role they play in the development of the Country Music Genre.

Music Award - Jazz & Blues

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CFFF-FM: Decades of Protests - Blake Frazer

I am a retired business person with a lifelong passion for Blues, who successfully applied to Trent Radio three years ago to do a Blues music show weekly. The show is called Blues Themes Delivered by The Milkman and I have completed 117 shows to date. I feel what sets my show apart is that each week a variety of music is presented around a certain theme. It provides some education regarding the music and artists. Examples of previous themes are: Indigenous Blues, The Maple Blues Awards, East Coast Blues, The Devil's Music, and Spread A Little Love. The submission I picked is Decades of Protests which showcases Blues songs over the years on the subject of racism, injustice, ant-war, and oppression. It aired in June of 2020 and was inspired by the protests and unrest following the death of George Floyd.

 

Music Award - Pop and Dance

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CFUV-FM: Sounds Off Our Streets - Lindani Khoza

Sounds off our streets looks at traditional and popular music from Sub-Saharan Africa. Be it West, East or Southern Africa; from Sauti Sol to Salif Keita, you'll catch sounds straight from Mother Africa!

Hosted by a currently enrolled UVic student, Lindani Khoza (aka Dane the Ambitious) started producing Sounds Off Our Streets remotely at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which prevented him from moving to Victoria. Lindani has produced the show from Johannesburg, South Africa and his infectious charisma, engaging personality, and vibrant approach to production has quickly made Sounds Off Our Street one of the most enjoyable new additions to CFUV’s broadcasting schedule.

In this episode, Lindani romps through time showcasing the best in South African pop music for his Victorian audience. From Freshlyground’s joyous celebration of democracy, to TKZEE’s eye-popping support for the South African men’s national soccer team’s qualification for the FIFA world cup in 1998, and book-ended by different versions of Via Orlando, this early episode announced Sounds Off Our Street and immediately garnered a devoted and growing set of fans.