Canadian Folk Music Awards Kick Off in Ottawa

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The folk and roots community descends on Ottawa this weekend for the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Four hometown acts picked up nods for the fifth annual event. Hardware will be handed out at a gala ceremony on November 21 at the Dominion Chalmers Church. The bilingual event will be hosted by the CBC’s Shelagh Rogers and Quebecois musician Benoit Bourque.

The CFMAs kick off the new Nominee Showcase on November 20 at theNational Arts Centre Fourth Stage. The showcase will feature performances by some of this year's nominees as well as winners from the Ontario Council of Folk Festival's 2009 OCFF Songs from the Heart Awards. Manitoba singer/songwriter Don Amero is set to perform while fellow nominee Romi Mayes will be in Ottawa for the festivities.

Fresh from a double win at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards, roots singer/songwriter Mayes and her latest release, Achin in Yer Bones, has picked up a nod for Contemporary Album of the Year.

Amero, a double nominee for the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, is up for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year for his work on Deepening.

Other Manitobans up for CFMAs this year are Eagle & Hawk's songwriters -- Vince Fontaine, Jay Bodner, and Chris Burke-Gaffney -- and singer/songwriter Sierra Noble. Eagle & Hawk is up for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year for Sirensong while Noble has a nod for Young Performer of the Year for her singer/songwriter debut, Possibilities

Founded in 2005, the Canadian Folk Music Awards recognize Canada’s outstanding writers, producers and performers of folk music, and the artists who are expanding the genre in innovative and exciting ways.   

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