Tegan And Sara, Jackie Mittoo Albums Receive 2024 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize Designation
Tegan And Sara’s So Jealous and Jackie Mittoo’s Macka Fat are the two most recent albums to receive Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize designation.
The Polaris Heritage Prize is a hall of fame-minded critics prize and public support campaign meant to celebrate classic Canadian albums created before Polaris began in 2006. Like the Polaris Music Prize, winners and nominees of the Heritage Prize are albums of the highest artistic distinction, without regard to sales or affiliations. Each year one album is designated by a public vote and one by the Polaris Heritage Prize jury.
So Jealous, this year’s Heritage Prize public vote winner, is the fourth full-length album from Tegan And Sara and was released in 2004. It features signature track “Walking with a Ghost,” which has been covered by The White Stripes and included across movies and television. Mittoo’s Macka Fat was released in 1970 and was designated by this year’s Heritage Prize jury as their pick. Mittoo was at one time the musical director of the influential Studio One record label. Macka Fat is considered not just a foundational reggae album, but also an important part of the Jamaica-to-Toronto musical pipeline that developed in the 1960s-70s.
Tegan And Sara provided the following statement:
“Thank you to the Polaris Prize for recognizing one of our favorite albums and for honoring us with this prize. So Jealous isn’t just beloved by our fans; it’s an album that changed our lives forever. With the unwavering support of co-producers John Collins, David Carswell, and Howard Redekopp, along with musicians Matt Sharp, Rob Chursinoff, and Chris Carlson, we pushed our songwriting and musical instincts to the edge.
“We are grateful to our former managers, Nick Blasko and Piers Henwood, who encouraged our experimentation and stood by us as we faced sexism and homophobia in the press in the months and years following the release of So Jealous. This album inspired us to demand more equitable treatment for women and LGBTQ+ individuals in the music industry.
“Thank you to Emy Storey, our art director, who created the beautiful album cover, and Dustin Rabin for the photographs included in the album artwork. We appreciate Vapor Records for trusting us to make the albums we envisioned, and we are thankful to the countless agents, publicists, label partners, crew members, touring band, friends, and family who supported us — then and now — through the highs and lows of that era.
“To the fans who discovered us when we were so desperate to be found, thank you.”
Kevin Howes (Voluntary In Nature), the curator responsible for the Jamaica To Toronto and Native North America reissue series, highlighted the worldwide influence of Mittoo’s work.
“Macka Fat is a blessed, Studio One-blast, recorded in 1971 on a reggae and soul-splashed journey back to Kingston, Jamaica, via Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the Brown’s Town, St. Ann Parish, JA-born ‘Keyboard King’ had resided since 1968 and from where Mittoo shared his music and culture with the world before passing on from cancer in 1990 at 42 years of age. Whether across Africa to old London town, Tokyo rocking steady with jeggae Paris, heavy Milan like NYC, or stepping hot in São Luís and México City, Jackie Mittoo is boss, eternally… PEACE,”
There were 12 nominated albums up for Heritage Prize consideration this year:
Robert Charlebois & Louise Forestier – Lindberg
Julie Doiron & the Wooden Stars – Julie Doiron & the Wooden Stars
Sarah Harmer – You Were Here
The Inbreds – Kombinator
Daniel Lanois – Acadie
Jean Leloup – Le Dôme
Jackie Mittoo – Macka Fat
The Oscar Peterson Trio – Canadiana Suite
Robbie Robertson – Robbie Robertson
Slow – Against The Glass
Tegan And Sara – So Jealous
The Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site
Heritage Prize balloting was officially opened on September 17 during the 2024 Polaris Gala, where Jeremy Dutcher’s Motewolonuwok album was awarded the 19th annual Polaris Music Prize. Balloting closed on October 11. Music fans were able to vote once per day to support their favourite albums.
This year’s Heritage Prize jury included Lisa Christiansen, Dani Elwell, Brian Fauteux, Vish Khanna, Marc-Xavier Leblanc, Elliott Lefko, Julia Lipscombe, Antoine-Samuel Mauffette Alavo, Mike McCann, Marie Mello, and official guest musician juror and past Polaris nominee, Julian Taylor.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be asked to be a guest juror for the Polaris Heritage Prize,” said Taylor. “It’s been an incredible honour to say the least. I am thrilled that Jackie Mittoo’s album Macka Fat has received the top honour from the jury this year. It’s an album from an artist that is so deserving and has gone under the radar for so many years. To be involved in bringing wider attention to this brilliant work of art is wonderful and inspiring. I hope that it inspires other listeners, too. In fact, that was my favourite part of this process. I was exposed to some music I would have not have been and I am grateful. I am equally as thrilled that So Jealous by Tegan And Sara took home the public vote this year. Their music and who they are as people is a true example of how to shine beautiful light beams into our hearts.”
Forty-one albums have received Heritage Prize designation since its introduction in 2015. Past winning albums include Glenn Gould’s Bach: The Goldberg Variations, Kid Koala’s Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, and Blue Rodeo’s Five Days In July.
We acknowledge the financial support of FACTOR, the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters.
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