Apply now for Musicworks 2019 Electronic Music Composition Contest
Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday August 7th, 2019
SOCAN member composers are invited to submit an experimental piece in any electronic music genre (acousmatic, electroacoustic, glitch, soundscape, intelligent dance music, turntable art, or video music) to the Musicworks 2019 Electronic Music Composition Contest. The juried contest spotlights new musical talent, offers a cash prize and an opportunity to be heard.
The contest entry fee is $25 (with each additional entry only $5, unlimited), and includes a one-year subscription to Musicworks magazine. First prize is $500 cash, a composer profile in Musicworks, Issue 136 (Spring 2020 issue, both in print and online), and your composition released on the Musicworks 136 CD. Second prize is $200 cash and composer coverage on musicworks.ca in 2019, and third prize is $100 cash and composer coverage on musicworks.ca in 2019. The contest closes October 25, 2019.
For further 2019 Contest prize details, eligibility and assessment criteria, rules and restrictions, and entry forms, click here.
Photo by Brad Ardley. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Eric Baptiste, Chester Krupa Carbone, Grandson.
Grandson, co-writers receive $10,000, other prizes, for “Blood/Water”
Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday August 8th, 2019
SOCAN Songwriting Prize 2019 winners Grandson (aka Jordan Benjamin) and co-writer Chester Krupa Carbone dropped by SOCAN’s Toronto offices on Aug. 7, 2019, to receive their prizes – a SOCAN cheque for $10,000, a Yamaha PSR-S970 keyboard, and a $500 gift card from musical instrument retailer Long & McQuade – for co-writing the winning song, “Blood/Water” along with Kevin Hissink (BUMA), who was unable to attend.
Accompanied by his touring guitarist Ramón Blanco, Grandson – who writes songs from a very strong social, political, and moral viewpoint – played a powerful, authentic, three-song acoustic SOCAN Session in the Harmony Lounge at our Toronto office. The songs were “Despicable,” “Apologize,” and the prize-winning “Blood/Water,” an intense anti-climate-catastrophe screed, featuring lines like, “The price of your greed is your son and your daughter,” and “You poisoned me for just another dollar in your pocket.”
Long & McQuade’s Sheri Katz then presented the pair with their $500 gift card; Yamaha’s Charmain Dennison gave them their prize keyboard; and SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste handed Grandson and Krupa (and Hissink, in absentia) their $10,000 cheque. “We’re celebrating songwriting, but we’re also celebrating work,” said Baptiste. “It’s clear that Grandson and Krupa, have talent, they work hard, and they’re very nice people, too. ’Blood/Water’ is an important political song.”
As befits a purveyor of social comment, Grandson wore a T-shirt shouting out the mostly low-income, downtown West-end Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. The surprisingly charming and good-humoured singer-songwriter talked about his often lengthy song-creating process with Krupa and Hissink; how he was so grateful to be able to make music for a living, to SOCAN for the prize and other support, and to all of the collaborators and supporters on his team; and how at least some of the prize money will be donated to his XX Resistance Fund, which funds organizations that help young people across America to empower themselves to create positive change (especially among his fanbase of “grand-kids”).
After receiving their awards, Grandson and Krupa sat for a SOCAN video interview, so stay tuned here at www.socanmagazine.ca for that.
The winning song of the equivalent 2019 Francophone prize, the Prix de la chanson SOCAN, was “On fouette,” written by Teddy Laguerre, Shawn Volcy, Marc Casseus, and Vladimi Methelus, and performed by Tizzo, featuring Shreez and Soft.
SOCAN congratulates Grandson, Chester Krupa Carbone, and Kevin Hissink once again on winning our 2019 songwriting prize!
SOCAN composer Alexina Louie awarded $50,000 Molson Prize for 2019
Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday July 31st, 2019
SOCAN composer Alexina Louie has been awarded the $50,000 Molson Prize for 2019, to help her continue her contributions to Canada’s cultural heritage.
Funded from a $1 million endowment given to the Canada Council by the Molson Family Foundation, The Molson Prize, of $50,000 to each recipient, is awarded annually to two distinguished Canadians, one in the arts and the other in the social sciences or humanities. The Canada Council administers the awards in conjunction with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Alexina Louie is one of Canadaʼs most highly regarded contemporary composers. Her explorations of Asian art and philosophy, and her desire for self-expression, have contributed to the development of her unique musical voice. Her commissioned works have been performed and broadcast internationally, and range across all musical genres, including ballet and opera. She’s been commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada, The Canadian Opera Company, The Montreal Symphony, The Toronto Symphony, and The National Arts Centre Orchestra. Louie has twice won the JUNO Award for Best Classical Composition. She’s also received the National Arts Centre Composers Award, the Jules Léger Prize (chamber music), the Chalmers Award (musical composition), and the Lou Applebaum Award for Excellence in Film Music Composition. In 2002, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2003, she earned the Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music honour at the SOCAN Awards.
The winner of the other Molson Prize for 2019 is John Borrows, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria Law School in British Columbia. Burrows is Anishinaabe/Ojibway, and a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario.
SOCAN congratulates Alexina Louie and John Borrows on these awards!