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'Rising star': Indigenous artist Jeremy Dutcher takes home two ECMAs

THE CANADIAN PRESS Published Friday, May 3, 2019 7:58AM ADT Last Updated Friday, May 3, 2019 8:01AM ADT

Jeremy Dutcher accepts the "Indigenous Artist of the Year" at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards Gala in Charlottetown, P.E.I., on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Morris)

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CHARLOTTETOWN -- Jeremy Dutcher, a musician at the centre of what has been called an Indigenous renaissance, added to his list of accolades Thursday at the East Coast Music Awards.

The trained operatic singer, raised partly in the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, took home two awards: Indigenous artist of the year and rising star recording for the album "Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa."

The ambitious recording, performed in the Wolastoq language, also earned Dutcher the coveted Polaris Music Prize last September.

And in March, Dutcher performed at the Juno Awards in London, Ont., where he won for best Indigenous music album.

Among the other big winners at the East Coast Music Awards, broadcast live from Charlottetown, was Nova Scotia rapper Classified, who won best album for "Tomorrow Could Be The Day Things Change," and best rap recording for the same album.

The New Brunswick-based alternative rock band Les Hotesses d'Hilaire also won two awards.

Based in Moncton, N.B., the 70s-inspired band won best francophone recording for their high-energy rock opera "Viens avec moi." The same album won for group recording.

Charlottetown-based indie rock band Paper Lions won best pop recording for the album "At Long Creek II." And another Island band, the folk trio The East Pointers won song of the year for "Two Weeks."

Best video went to Makayla Lynn of Elmsdale, N.S., for "Joyride." Last year, the teenager became one of the youngest winners in the event's 30-year history. She was only 16 when she won for best country recording.

Lynn first performed in Nashville at the age of 12, before going on to share the stage with the likes of Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Kid Rock.

This year, Mallory Johnson of Conception Bay South, N.L., won for best country recording.

As for Dutcher, his latest wins marks the culmination of five years of work, which started at Dalhousie University in Halifax, where he studied music and anthropology.

When an elder from Wolastoq told him about archival recordings featuring his ancestors -- stored at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. -- Dutcher took it upon himself to do what he could to preserve the endangered language.

More awards will be handed out over the weekend as the East Coast Music and Industry Awards celebration continues in Charlottetown.

The following awards were handed out Thursday night at the East Coast Music Awards:

Best album: "Tomorrow Could Be The Day Things Change" by Classified.

Bucky Adams Memorial Award: Reeny Smith.

Best country recording: Mallory Johnson's self-titled album.

Francophone recording: "Come with me" by Hostesses Hilaire.

Best entertainer: The Barra MacNeils.

Best video: Makayla Lynn's "Joyride," directed by Scott Simpson.

Best folk recording: "Two" by Gunning and Cormier.

Best group recording: "Come with me" by Hostesses Hilaire.

Best Indigenous artist: Jeremy Dutcher.

Best rap recording: "Tomorrow Could Be The Day Things Change" by Classified.