I ♥ Canadians

By the time the telecast started, many of my favourite albums of 2009 had already won Junos: Bell Orchestre for instrumental album of the year (As Seen Through Windows), Charles Spearin for contemporary jazz album of the year (The Happiness Project), Billy Talent for rock album of the year (III), and K’naan for artist of the year. After decades of grumbling about the Junos, this was the first year I was predisposed to genuinely enjoy them. 

And yet they disappointed again—not because they were awful, but because they weren’t. Normally they are a combination of the painful and the ever-so-slightly profound, thanks to the cheap commercialization and the glimpses of comparatively obscure artists getting a shot in prime time. If we’re lucky, someone makes a decent speech. The 2010 Junos, by comparison, were like lithium: no highs, no lows, just even keel.

Here are the nominees for the 2010 Juno Awards.  From the Juno Awards website:

Each year, artists across Canada submit their best work for consideration in to 39 categories. This year, CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) received the highest number of submissions in the awards history. To facilitate the nominating & voting process, CARAS works year round to ensure the process remains credible and is inclusive of many genres within Canada.