The Polaris Music Prize is Canada's response to the Mercury Prize, which honors musicians from the UK and Ireland. It's relatively new, having awarded it's first prize back in 2006.
Caribou won the 2008 Polaris Music Prize for his album Andorra. Although I do enjoy that album, I thought that Plants and Animals with Parc Avenue or Holy Fuck with LP would win.
I'm surprised that Caribou won, only because compared to the other musicians nominated for this year's prize (with the exception of Stars and The Weakerthans), he is fairly well-known. In the past, the bigger name musicians, such as Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, and the Arcade Fire, all who were nominated (and rightly so) did not win. I've read other blogs that commented on this issue as well and I happen to agree with them.
However, it seems that since last year's awards, the Polaris Prize has been seen by some as somewhat of a joke. There was quite a fuss made over Patrick Watson winning over nominees such as fan favorites Feist and the Arcade Fire. This is mostly because Watson has been associated with having a fan base of soccer moms, and that's just ridiculous and unfortunate. Of course, thanks to the iPod commercials, look what has now happened to Feist. I happen to really like Patrick Watson (I love his collaboration with The Cinematic Orchestra) and I thought Close to Paradise was a beautiful album.
Perhaps now that Caribou won, the Polaris Prize will be taken more seriously by those who have snubbed it for past decisions.
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