Dal's Juno connection

From the world beats of Kiran Ahluwalia and Mark Duggan to rockers Sloan and Celtic chanteuse Raylene Rankin, at least 20 musicians in the Dalhousie community have earned Juno awards or nominations in recent years. With such a wide spectrum of Juno award-winners in our midst, itÕs only fitting the university is a key concert venue for the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax this weekend.

Excellence in teaching is a major factor behind DalÕs successful Juno history, says professor and pianist Lynn Stodola, Chair of the Music Department. Students, alumni and faculty have earned the national accolades, and Dal music professors are often asked to serve on the Juno jury panels that help select award winners.

Juno events at Dal On Sunday at 2 pm at the Dalhousie Arts Centre, Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea hosts the Juno Songwriters' Circle, featuring such nominees as Martha Wainwright, Ron Sexsmith, hometown hero Joel Plaskett, Alpha Yaya Diallo and Jann Arden. Two high-profile acts perform in the McInnes Room this weekend: triple-nominated Vancouver rockers Hedley on Friday, and rising reggae star Matisyahu on Saturday. Dalhousie musicians are in several bands featured throughout Junofest weekend at official showcases, as well as No Cases sponsored by campus radio station CKDU. For more details about the 2006 Juno Awards or events, please see www.junoawards.ca, www.junos.ctv.ca, or www.halifaxplayhard.com.

ÒIÕve done it myself a couple of times, as have many of my colleagues,” says Stodola. ÒWe have a very active faculty of practicing musicians who maintain their profiles across Canada and internationally.”

Stodola and fellow music professor Philippe Djokic have an even more personal connection to the Junos this year. Their daughter Denise Djokic, who recently won her second East Coast Music Award, is now vying for her first Juno Ð her album Folklore, with David Jalbert, is nominated in the Classical category (solo or chamber ensemble). The rising star cellist didnÕt attend Dalhousie, yet one of her most influential instructors early on was Shimon Walt, a Dal teacher and cellist with Symphony Nova Scotia.

Djokic once performed on the Grammys, where another Dal music grad is amassing a large collection of engineering awards. Richard King (BME Õ87), senior recording engineer at Sony Music Studios in New York, has worked with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis, and on major movie soundtracks including Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Just a few other acclaimed Dal people in the music industry:   
- SloanÕs Patrick Pentland (BA Õ91), Jay Ferguson (BA Õ89), and Chris Murphy (BA '90) recently opened for The Rolling Stones in Boston 
- multiple ECMA-winner Scott Macmillan (BA 76), an in-demand composer, performer and producer
- Law grads Chip Sutherland and Lynn Burstein, noted entertainment lawyers
- professors Don Palmer (retired) and Chris Mitchell, award-winning jazz saxophonists
- instructors and alumni Douglas Reach (BM Õ78) and Michael Scott (BM Õ02), in ECMA-nominated group Bach to Blues
- Liz Rigney (BA Õ89), singer and CTV broadcaster
- current student Andrea Curry, nominated for three ECMAs

Stodola says itÕs great to see the Junos finally in Halifax. ÒItÕs about time!” she exclaims. ÒItÕs certainly a validation that this is a major music centre. And since itÕs our first chance to host a national event of this magnitude, it should be quite an awakening for the music industry across Canada.”

Dalhousie offers one of North AmericaÕs largest guitar programs and the music department presents upwards of 80 events per year. With almost 40 faculty members (full and part time), music is a popular choice for electives. This term alone, 250 students registered for The Rock Ôn Roll Era and Beyond. Walter Kemp is teaching a new course titled Oh Canada! National Identity in the Social History of Canadian Music.

ÒThereÕs something here for everybody,” says Stodola. ÒThis is not a music school where only musicians can come through the door.”