New Brunswick, Canada, native Jeremy Dutcher has won the 2024 Polaris Music Prize for his album Motewolonuwok. The Two-Spirit composer and musician is now the first artist in the prize’s 19-year history to win the award twice. (In 2018, Dutcher earned the accolade for his debut studio LP, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.) With the victory, given to the artist with the best Canadian album of the year, Dutcher also gets a cash prize of $50,000, courtesy of the Slaight Family Foundation.
The 2023 Polaris Music Prize recipient, Debby Friday, revealed Dutcher as the winner during the ceremony she hosted at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The prize was presented by CBC Music, and determined by a jury of writers, programmers, and broadcasters. The other artists who made the 2024 Polaris shortlist were: Bambii, the Beaches, DijahSB, Charlotte Cardin, Elisapie, Cindy Lee, Nobro, Allison Russell, and Tobi.
“Six years ago, this award changed my life,” Dutcher said as he accepted the Polaris Music Prize. “I have to give unending gratitude to this music community, please keep your hands going for all of these nominees. Not a single album on that list sounded like each other and that speaks to the breadth of music in this place. This choir, these singers, this band, everyone who helped make this album, I love you. I didn’t think this would happen.”
Dutcher, who now resides in Montreal, Quebec, is a Wolastoqiyik member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick. He is a classically trained Indigenous tenor, composer, and musicologist who sings in English, French, and his people’s native language, Wolastoqey. “I didn’t grow up as a fluent speaker, but I’ve worked darn hard to make sure that it’s part of my everyday experience,” Dutcher told Vogue last year. His debut, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, was sung entirely in Wolastoqey.
Previous Polaris Music Prize winners include Pierre Kwenders, Cadence Weapon, Backxwash, Haviah Mighty, Lido Pimienta, Arcade Fire, Tanya Tagaq, Kaytranada, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fucked Up, Feist, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Caribou, and more.
