POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE 2022
Pierre Kwenders Wins for José Louis and the Paradox of Love
Contents
- ONE SONG: Hear it and see the video: Kilimanjaro
- PLAYLIST: José Louis and the Paradox of Love album on YouTube and Spotify
- PERFORMANCE: Kwenders and band play the Polaris Gala Monday night (starts at 2hrs 18 mins)
- READ: Kurated No. 151 for a full post on Kwenders and the album
AND THE WINNER IS…
“…there is hope, there is a place to live and dream and be yourself .”
The 17th annual Polaris Music Prize was awarded Monday night to Montreal-based Pierre Kwenders for José Louis and the Paradox of Love, a soulful, high energy, dance-friendly album weaving together African genres and beats with jazz, R&B, electronica and more.
In accepting the award at the end of a grueling four-hour livestream show, Congolese-born Kwenders fell to his knees.
“This is crazy, I don’t even know what to think. This is for all the kids from the diaspora, the African diaspora, moving in Canada. Sometimes you feel like you don’t know what you’re running into, or what you’re coming into. But there is hope, there is a place to live and dream and be yourself. This album, especially, is about being yourself and telling your own story. José Louis And The Paradox Of Love is there for you, you know, if you feel you can connect, connect! Let’s talk! Let’s have fun! Let’s be ourselves! Let’s love each other, while we are alive. Bisou!”
Check out the innovative video for Kilimanjaro
The video for Kilimanjaro, one of the album’s 13 tracks, is a visual trip through decades of African musical history and featuring some of Kwenders’ icons. His face is digitally placed on the bodies of musicians like Fela Kuti, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Grace Jones and Miriam Makeba.
“‘The effect is a winking visualization of Kwenders’ protean personality.’ Rolling Stone wrote. “‘But it also conveys a powerful will toward a new form of creative freedom.'”
Kwenders told the magazine: “’I think I’m all of them, you know? I want to express the same joy those people expressed when they were onstage, on screen, when they were dancing. And yes, when people look at me I’m a man, but there’s a lot of femininity in me. So that’s what I’m saying in all of that. There’s no limit to who I am, and I don’t think I will ever limit myself to expressing myself in any way.’”
READ MORE
Click Kurated No. 151 for the full post about Kwenders and his award-winning album plus a review in Exclaim! magazine.
Stay tuned and enjoy,
25 September 2022
