ECMAs will leave Islanders spoiled for choice this week

The East Coast Music Awards are underway Wednesday in Charlottetown, and that means a weekend filled with more music over five days than you could imagine taking advantage of.

There will be close to 50 events during the festival, in genres from loud to folk, children's to hip-hop, country to jazz.

Many shows are free. Ticketed events start at $20, and multiple-event passes are available.

The opening concert Wednesday carries an island theme, featuring P.E.I.'s Two Hours Traffic and The East Pointers, along with The Once from another Atlantic Canadian island, Newfoundland. That concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Delta Prince Edward.

Newfoundland and Labrador musician Damhnait Doyle is an ECMA veteran. She's co-hosting Thursday's award show with singer-songwriter Rose Cousins. (Angela Walker/CBC)

The East Pointers lead this year's nominations with seven, including album of the year and group recording of the year for Safe in Sound.

While pleased with the recognition, band member Jake Charron is trying to keep the honour in perspective.

"We also have the opportunity to lose the most awards this year," Charron said.

"If we can just get one I can sleep that night."

That main event is Thursday night. The awards ceremony is hosted by singer-songwriter Rose Cousins along with musician and CBC Music host Damhnait Doyle.

Doyle has vivid memories of her own first ECMA weekend, and how she was immediately hooked.

Newfoundland folk trio The Once will be part of the opening concert. (theonce.ca)

"I will never forget flying from St. John's, Newfoundland, on a plane with all of the musicians I loved and admired from my province going to whoop it up at the East Coast Music Awards," Doyle said.

"I religiously went for about 15 or 16 years."

The East Pointers will be back on the stage for the awards ceremony. Joining them will be Tara MacLean, Rum Ragged, Morgan Toney, Maggie Andrew, Tim Baker, KAYO, Jenn Grant, Émilie Landry, and Lennie Gallant.

Among the free events during the festival will be daily interviews and performances hosted by CBC P.E.I.'s Victoria Walton in the lobby of the Delta Prince Edward.

About a dozen artists will be featured each day.

The action will really ramp up on Saturday with 19 separate events all around the city, both inside and outside.

Beyond ECMA weekend

The East Coast Music Association welcomed a new CEO on March 1, Moroccan/French Canadian cultural strategist and professional musician Blanche Israël.

Israël is thrilled to celebrate the first awards weekend of her tenure in Charlottetown.

East Coast musicians deserve to be able to earn a decent living from their art, says the association's CEO, Blanche Israël. (Laurent Rigaux/Radio-Canada)

"Having the ECMAs here is great because it's very walkable," she said.

"Anyone who wants to venue-hop and take in a really specific list of artists, you can do that fairly easily in Charlottetown because everything is very close."

Awards weekend has always been a big focus for the association, and that will continue, but Israël also wants to explore ways to support artists all year long.

"Post-pandemic artists are facing a lot of challenges. The performing arts have been slower to restart. It really feels like we are finally in a place where audiences are actually feeling comfortable," she said.

"It's a tough landscape right now, and we have a responsibility as the East Coast Music Association to stay on top of where the music industry is right now and try to be responsive and supportive."

The award ceremony is always a highlight of ECMA weekend. (CBC Music)

Just two months into the job, it's too early to think about what that response and support might look like, but Israël said it could include working with provincial music associations and facilitating collaborations both with the regional group and with each other.

Israël's goal is to create an industry in the region where musicians can make a decent living, without having to resort to outside work.

"Atlantic Canadian musicians work so hard," she said.

"Our society here is missing out on the full expression of their talent because they're busy waiting tables or they're busy working in corporate or whatever it is."