The Junos celebrated its 40th anniversary with a bang, returning to its birthplace of Toronto with a week-long celebration of music by Juno nominated artists, including an anniversary concert series at the Horseshoe Tavern and a partnership with several of Toronto’s major cultural institutions, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Bata Shoe Museum, and the Science Centre.
The Junos handed out 44 awards to some of Canada’s most outstanding artists, 32 of them in its non-broadcast show on Saturday night. One aspect that particularly stood out was the diversity of the categories.
“The diversity of the music is equal to the diversity of our country,” said David Whitaker, president and CEO of Tourism Toronto who had an important role in marketing the event.
Both on stage and in the media room, the artists expressed a great respect for music and its power to influence people, not to mention the delight of winning an award.
Following is a profile of three Juno-prize recipients who won on Saturday night in different categories: rising country star Johnny Reid, blues veteran Jim Byrnes, and the classical music group the Gryphon Trio.
ll share a love and respect for music, life, and human emotion. Knowing the power of music to touch people, all are humbled
Johnny Reid
Johnny Reid took home Best Country Album for “A Place Called Love.” One of Canada’s rising country stars, Reid hosted the Juno Songwriters Circle and was nominated for four awards, including Artist of the Year. Backstage at the Juno Awards Gala, Reid spoke about his music and the inspiration for his winning album.
“I lost my grandmother ... and I asked myself the question, ‘Where did my granny go when she left this world?’ Twelve months later, my wife and I welcomed our fourth child, a baby girl, into the world, and as I watched her come into the world, I asked myself the same question. `Where did she come from?’ And the answer to that for me was a place called love.”
Reid has released six albums since 1997 with the last two achieving double platinum status in Canada. Fresh from signing a deal with EMI, Reid seems determined not to be affixed with any musical label. He hinted that there may be a surprise in store for his next album.
“I’m just going to go into the studio and I’m going to write the songs I want to write and I’m going to record them the way I want to record them. I’m going to make each song be what each song needs to be.”
Born in Scotland, Reid and his family moved to Canada in 1988 in hopes of securing a brighter future. A stranger in a new land, Reid found inspiration in music, something that carries over in his work with Music Counts, a music education charity that helps to keep music alive in schools across Canada.
“I moved to Canada in 1988 and my guitar has become a very good friend to me since, and the thought of a Canada without music is frightening to me. I want to make sure that music is alive and kicking again in this country.”
Jim Byrnes
Born in St Louis, Missouri, in the same neighbourhood as Chuck Berry, Byrnes has been well versed in the blues tradition. “Growing up where I grew up, blues and country are different sides of the same street and I wanted to explore some of that,” he said of his latest release.
Byrnes has called Canada home for the past 40 years and has been a part of the Canadian blues and roots scene for decades. Always coming in under the radar, he nonetheless has earned respect from blues aficionados and his peers in the music industry. He has crafted a musical legacy steeped in traditional blues but tempered with enough mainstream appeal to be more that just “that blues guy.”
With enough screen time to make his face recognizable to the general Canadian population, Jim Byrnes the actor has had roles in the “Wiseguy” and “Highlander” series and most recently in “Hellcats,” a series in which he plays a Memphis record store owner, a role he admits is “not a big stretch.”
Playing double duty as an actor and musician, Byrnes doesn’t differentiate much between the two roles. “The music that I play is about human emotion, and the stories that we tell as an actor are about human interaction and human emotion, so it’s something that I find very similar.”
Losing both legs in a car accident in 1972 didn’t stop Byrnes from having a successful music and acting career “I feel that just by living my life and doing what I do, and getting out day after day, that people will go, ‘Hey man, look what this guy can do. I can do it too.’”
Rather than an advocate for those with disabilities, Byrnes sees himself simply as “a musician and an actor and a singer and just an all around guy who happens to have a disability.”
Gryphon Trio
But for the group, their win was ultimately a tribute to Beethoven’s music. “We’re at his service. It’s more about Beethoven than it is about us,” said cellist Roman Borys.
“Beethoven did most of the work here. We just had the sense to know how to stay out of the way. We just let Beethoven come through,” said Borys. “There are not a lot artists here, as much as I respect them, whose music is going to be appreciated 300 years from now.”
Pianist Jamie Parker attributed the long lasting nature of Beethoven’s music to his technique and spiritual approach to music.
“He took just such basic things like a couple of notes, an interval or a few notes of a scale and like an acorn was able to grow these unbelievable oak trees, just these fantastic structures, such very simple material.”
Beethoven’s personal struggle as a composer who was going deaf is also reflected in his music, which is ultimately a testament to his ability to triumph over adversity, explains Parker, noting this is especially reflected in his 9th Symphony and the Late String Quartets. “I think it’s some of the most life-affirming music anybody has,” he said.
The Gryphon Trio has devoted considerable energy to music education programs and has attempted to demonstrate that classical music is not just an elitist endeavour. “We can’t do enough of it. We’re always trying to think of something,” said violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon. Their brand new Listen up program partners a composer with students in a small community who helps them set their poetry to music. The trio then accompanies them in concert.
