Pace on Earth

Yes We Can

This will be the last post on the ECMAs but I wanted to give my overview of the event as a whole and borrowed the hopeful attitude from Obama-Rama for the title.

When word came down that the ECMAs would be rolling into town I was hopeful that we could match the buzz that the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival creates annually. I would say it did that and then some. Not to knock the Harvest whatsoever but this event is actually much larger is scope simply because of the sheer number of artists that come to town. And those artists drew crowds. Everywhere I went there were people enjoying tunes..and the best part being that they are enjoying local tunes.

That is really what struck me the most about the weekend. I had a pretty good idea that there was a deep-rooted musical culture in Atlantic Canada but this weekend showed me that there is also large musical industry in the region. The real difference between this weekend and the weekend in the fall is that this weekend is as much about networking for the industry types as it is for us to watch the shows. And that's not meant to be a slag; they do a very good job of making sure all the artists get a chance to be seen. By the end of the weekend I was actually looking up hotels in Cornerbrook so I can be there next year.

Premier Shawn Graham was at the awards gala (a couple of the presenters gave him ultra-high praise for partying until 4am the night before - only in the maritimes!) and he would be wise to take a good hard look at some of the lessons of music industry. His talk of self-sufficiency is great but this is an industry that has actually made that a reality.

See you in Cornerbrook - hopefully.

Pace out.

Labels: ECMA, ECMA Recap

posted by Vitamin S @ 5:34 p.m.