Totally blown away by Feist – Juno Awards

I’m watching the Juno Awards – that’s Canada’s music awards which are our equivalent to the Grammy’s and Feist is taking a lot of awards.

The Juno’s are held over two days. There was a private dinner ceremony on Saturday night where the bulk of the awards were handed out. Feist pretty much took the big awards – Artist of the year and Song writer of the year.

Other than seeing her perform her song 1234 for the itunes/ ipod commercial on TV I’ve never really seen Feist perform.

I can’t say that anymore! She performed at the Juno’s and totally blew me away. In some ways she reminded me a little bit of Bjork but with a much more mainstream sound. I’d love to go to one of her concerts. I’m sure she’d be a performer worth seeing.

Avril Lavigne also performed at the Junos. She sang Girlfriend. Her backup dancers where sturdy looking girls. It a way it was nice to see more “every woman” type dancers highlighted in an area where usually only the thin and skeletal get to play.

Other big winners at the Juno’s were Finger Eleven for Rock Album of the Year – Them Vs. You Vs. Me.

Here’s the list of Saturday Nights winners. I’ll add the official Sunday night telecasts winners shortly.

• International Album of the Year — Good Girl Gone Bad — Rihanna

• Artist of the Year — Feist

• New Artist of the Year — Serena Ryder

• Songwriter of the Year — Feist

• Adult Alternative Album of the Year — Small Miracles — Blue Rodeo

• Alternative Album of the Year — Neon Bible — Arcade Fired

• Rock Album of the Year — Them Vs You Vs Me — Finger Eleven

• Vocal Jazz Album of the Year — Make Someone Happy — Sophie Milman

• Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year – Almost Certainly Dreaming – The Chris Tarry Group

• Traditional Jazz Album of the Year — Debut – Brandi Disterheft

• Instrumental Album of the Year — The Utmost — Jayme Stone

• Francophone Album of the Year — L’echec du material — Daniel Belanger

• Children’s Album of the Year — Music Soup — Jen Gould

• Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble — Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano — Marc-Andre Hamelin

• Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) With Large Ensemble Accompaniment — Korngold, Barber and • Walton Violin Concertos — James Ehnes, Bramwell Tovey, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

• Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance — Surprise — Measha Bruggergosman

• Classical Composition of the Year — Constantinople — Christos Hatzis

• Rap Recording of the Year — The Revolution — Belly

• Dance Recording of the Year — All U Ever Want — Billy Newton-Davis Vs. Deadmau5

• R&B/Soul Recording of the Year — Revival — Jully Black

• Reggae Recording of the Year — Don’t Go Pretending — Mikey Dangerous

• Aboriginal Recording of the Year — The Dirty Looks — Derek Miller

• Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo — Right of Passage — David Francey

• Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group — Key Principles — Nathan

• Blues Album of the Year — Building Full of Blues — FATHEAD

• Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year — Holy God — Brian Doerksen

• World Music Album of the Year — Agua Del Pozo — Alex Cuba

• Jack Richardson Producer of the Year — Joni Mitchell — Hana/Bad Dreams — Shine

• Recording Engineer of the Year — Kevin Churko — I Don’t Wanna Stop/God Bless The Almighty Dollar — Black Rain — Ozzy Osbourne

• CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year — Tracy Maurice (Director/Designer) and Francois Miron (Photographer) — Neon Bible — Arcade Fire

• Video of the Year — C’mon — Christopher Mills (Director) — Blue Rodeo

• Music DVD of the Year — 666 Live — Pierre & Francois Lamoureux, Billy Talent, Pierre Tremblay, Steve Blair — Billy Talent