Willie Davis for The New York Times Godspeed You! Black Emperor performing in Brooklyn in 2011.Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the reclusive Montreal musical collective, won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize on Monday for their first album in ten years, then snubbed organizers of the awards by not showing up to accept it, CTV reported.
The Polaris prize goes to the best Canadian album of the year. The group’s “Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!†beat out a strong field that included the Toronto band Metric, Purity Ring and the duo Tegan and Sara.
But when last year’s winner, Feist, announced the results at a gala dinner in Toronto on Monday, none of the band members were present. Instead, an executive from the group’s label, Constellation Records, climbed on stage and announced the band intended to devote the $30,000 in prize money to buying instruments for people in Quebec’s prisons. The band posted an explanation online, saying that corporate sponsorship of the Polaris Prize and the atmosphere of government austerity made it inappropriate to attend. Additionally, the band wrote, “Organizing a gala just so musicians can compete against each other for a novelty-sized cheque doesn’t serve the cause of righteous music at all.â€
Godspeed You! Black Emperor became well-known during the late ’90s and early 2000s for its wall-of-sound performances and its do-it-yourself esthetics. The members rarely give interviews. They released a handful of records before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2003. Then they returned to touring in December 2010 and began working on “Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!†which was released in in October 2012 and received positive reviews.
Seven of 10 nominees, including Godspeed, appeared on the Polaris short list for the first time. The list had no former winners or clear front-runners. An 11-person jury decides the winner; the short list of 10 album-of-the-year contenders is selected by about 200 music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters across Canada, who are asked to choose records strictly on merit, with no consideration for sales or airplay.
