award – The Concordian

Michelle Ferguson — The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa)

OTTAWA (CUP) — Innovative folk music may sound like an oxymoron to some, but for Folk Music Canada, it is a reason to celebrate.

In November 2012, the organization will hand out its first ever Innovator Award at the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards, to be held in Saint John, N.B. According to organizers, the honour will be given to a pioneer of the folk community.

“The purpose is really to underline things that people are doing that set a new mould in the folk world,” said Tamara Kater, executive director of Folk Music Canada.

While folk music is usually described as traditional, Kater insists that it should not be considered stagnant.

“Even though folk is based on tradition, it’s something that really comes from the people,” she said. “The music of the people never really stands still.”

It’s sort of ironic, then, that the sector of music that’s been given the “traditional” tag would reward innovation, while the majority of the mainstream music industry has fought tirelessly — and often illogically — against it. One might recall earlier this year when the Recording Industry Association of America sued LimeWire for $72 trillion, which is almost all the the money that exists in the world economy.

Ridiculous claims like these are part of major labels’ vehement refusal to adapt to the age of technology and the free culture movement. But over at Folk Music Canada, the kind of innovative thinking that could straighten out the music industry — without trying to force a new generation of consumers to conform to an old school of business — might actually be rightfully rewarded.

Unlike most music awards, the Innovator Award is not centered on the art form or on a musician’s recordings. Instead, Folk Music Canada wishes to focus on the development of the folk community as a whole.

“What we’re looking for is something that is new,” said Kater. “[This] can come from any aspect of the folk community…It could be a festival that found a new way of operating, and who, for example, is not reliant on government grants.”

Ottawa, which just came off its 18th annual Folk Festival, has a thriving folk community. But, as far as innovation goes, it’s hard to tell how the city fares. There are two main institutions that promote and celebrate folk music in Ottawa, other than the Ottawa Folk Festival.

The Ottawa Folklore Centre, founded in 1976, acts as a hub for local talent and developing musicians by selling instruments, hosting events, and providing lessons for an array of unique instruments such as the Sri Lankan drum and the djembe. Spirit of Rasputin’s, an event created in 2009 after a fire burned down the iconic Rasputin Folk Café, also provides opportunities for locals to showcase their talent.

In 2010, these two organizations came together to create a series of “folkcasts” — an online concert series that could be accessed through YouTube or the Ottawa Folklore Centre website.

These “folkcasts” are the kind of effort that could be nominated for the Folk Music Canada Innovator Award. Unfortunately, they stopped being produced in 2011.

Although not the focus of the award, musicians can also be nominated. Artists who have found new ways of approaching the music or who have created a new model for collaboration are examples of potential nominees.

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dan Mangan, who played at this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival, is a prime example of a Canadian musician who stands on the fringe of folk. On his third album, Oh Fortune, Mangan truly pushes the envelope by collaborating with many improvisational and experimental musicians to create a refreshing sound.

In many ways, the award itself could be considered innovative; according to Kater, not only is it the first award created by Folk Music Canada, but it’s also the first of its kind.

“There are other like-minded organizations that give out awards as well,” said Kater, “but we don’t really know of anyone who is giving out recognition to a new, cutting-edge, or innovative aspect of the community.”

The nomination process is also different from most awards; nominees are chosen by members of the folk community, in the hopes that this will draw attention to efforts that may otherwise go unnoticed in such a large, decentralized body of fans.

Due to the broad nature of the award, Kater admits that she has no expectations when it comes to the list of nominees.

“It’s the first year that we are opening up to the community to bring in nominations,” she said. “So in many ways, we’re as curious as everyone else to see what is going to come in and we’re asking the community around us to identify things that they see as innovative.”

What would you do with $225,000?

For Concordia history professor Ronald Rudin, the answer to this question is getting clearer and clearer each day.

Rudin is a recipient of the Trudeau Foundation Fellowship Award, a distinction awarded to five individuals each fall based on their achievements in research, creativity and social commitment.

“I think this is a further reflection of Concordia being recognized as a place where important research is being done,” said Rudin, who considers the fellowship as a means of highlighting the brilliance of Concordia.

Rudin plans to use his prize money to “develop a series of films dealing with historical topics.” No stranger to filmmaking, Rudin has produced two documentaries on Acadians and French history, Life After ÃŽle Ste-Croix and Remembering a Memory. He now has an opportunity to branch out and try to create something on a larger scale.

“It would be short-sighted just to make something narrowly defined largely done by myself,” said Rudin, who hopes his films will make history engaging to viewers. “Instead it’s an opportunity for me to be able to put together a team of people whose understanding of issues is far beyond my own.”

Telling history in a captivating and ultimately accurate way is a personal goal of Rudin’s.

“The stories we hear are not natural,” he explained, alluding to the way history is presented in modern day society. “Somebody who thinks about the past or even the present has to understand that when they’re confronted with a product, whether a book, a film or a university lecture, they are hearing a version of something. What they are hearing is not the singular truth,” Rudin said.

Rudin also elaborated on how history is currently taught as well as its function in our society.

“The government has decided to spend [millions of dollars] to teach Canadians about the War of 1812 because they feel we should know about the facts of the upcoming anniversary,” Rudin said, referring to a federal initiative to commemorate the War of 1812 bicentennial. “I don’t see a lot of value in simply knowing facts. We can all look in a book and know facts. The value of history is to realize that it is a story that does not have simple answers.”

All this despite the fact that some do not always see the purpose in history. According to Victoria Sheila, a Concordia finance student, history is “only important if we’re not just being taught the nice parts of it.”

“The challenge,” said Rudin, “is that some students think that history is cut and dry which is not true. I thought history was boring when they wanted me to learn dates and numbers. The challenge is trying to make students understand when they do history, it’s not just lining up the facts, but telling the story.”

Rudin is currently on sabbatical leave finishing his seventh book about the expropriation of Acadians in the mid-18th century.