ECMA PARTY GOERS REFLECT ON 30 YEARS
irty years old and still going strong, the East Coast Music Awards marked the occasion with one of its most diverse gala shows yet at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre.
It’s no easy task, covering multiple cultures and genres of music from four Atlantic provinces. But the gala ran the gamut with 15 performances from the classic Cape Breton Gaelic-bred tradition of the Barra Macneils to Neon Dreams’ vibrant electro pop/rock/hip-hop mashup while handing out 13 awards in twoand-a-half hours.
Keeping the evening on track in true comic style, host Jonathan Torrens asked the audience to cast their minds back to that rst ECMA celebration in 1988, “held in the back of a Casino Taxi in the parking lot of Little Nashville in Dartmouth.”
In fact, it was just down the street in the basement of Maritime Centre at the Flamingo Cafe & Lounge, but memories are hazy, perhaps the rst trophy truly was “an empty carton of Beep” as the Mr. D and Trailer Park Boys star recalled.
Broadcast via Bell Aliant Fibe TV1 and streamed live at www. ecma.com, the music began with a one-two punch of East Coast tribute tunes by hip-hop standard bearers Universal Soul and the Joel Plaskett Emergency (or “Universal Joel” as Torrens put it)
“I love writing songs, and the company I’m keeping are all friends in the category,” said Plaskett later, accepting the songwriter of the year honour, which he shared with his father Bill.
“ is town inspires me every year, just an hour or so ago I was standing in front of the Wooden Monkey with Al Tuck and Chris Murphy and Charles Austin, it’s a big town full of great musicians.”
Double winner Kinley Dowling made a rare solo appearance on the show, as the Rising Star Recording of the Year recipient sang her powerful Microphone from Letters Never Sent, a project she initially intended only for the studio.
“I’m just finding my voice,” said the P.E.I. songwriter and former Hey Rosetta! violinist as she picked up her rst trophy of the night. e clip for Microphone, directed by P.E.I. lmmaker Jenna Macmillan, also earned Fans’ Choice Video of the Year, thanks to its direct message in support of victims of sexual assault, and sharp indictment of those who commit it.
“I’m so happy to be part of the shift that is happening in our culture, and to the guy I wrote it about, I hope you’re watching,” said Dowling, who revealed that the Microphone video will be used as a teaching tool in Grade 9 health classes in P.E.I. in the coming year.
Fairview rapper and hip-hop recording of the year winner Quake Matthews also turned his thoughtful performance spot into a plea to end violence, dedicating his song We Can Do Better to friend and artist John Newcombe, who was shot outside a Clayton Park bar in 2012.
It was a big night for displaying the power of a message that has a hip-hop beat, as indigenous artist of the year City Natives performed with gusto, and one-man music industry Classified performed his recent single Powerless. e gospel- tinged song about the crises of assault in First Nations communities, and missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada, was performed with Mi’kmaq dancers in sparkling regalia.
“It’s a touchy subject a lot of people don’t want to talk about it,” said the En eld rapper on the red carpet moments before the awards show began.
“This is something that’s been happening to a lot of people, it makes people, but I wanted to write a song that would open up the conversation and make more people aware of what’s been happening.”
ere was also an impassioned performance by Bucky Adams Memorial Award winner Measha Brueggergosman, who gave a soul-stirring rendition of I Surrender All with members of the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, while ECMA Directors’ Special Achievement Award honourees Sloan made a spirited return to their hometown with a mix of the current single Spin Our Wheels and the classic e Good in Everyone.
ECMA 2019 hits Charlottetown next year, May 1-5.