Manitoba musicians win big on home turf

Local musicians, bands and ensembles racked up the wins at this year’s Western Canadian Music Awards.

The 2025 artistic awards were presented Thursday at the Park Theatre, with one-third of winners hailing from Manitoba.

Winnipeg’s Tomiwa Omolayo, who performs as Tommyphyll, was named Afrobeats artist of the year — a new category for the awards, which celebrate acts from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Other first-time WCMA winners include the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra (jazz artist of the year), Leaf Rapids (roots artist of the year) and Jade Turner (country artist of the year).

Turner was still processing the win when reached by phone Friday morning.

“This award is super shocking and I’m so grateful for it,” she says with a laugh.

The member of Misipawistik Cree Nation has earned many accolades during her country music career, but often finds herself nominated for Indigenous categories instead of genre-specific ones.

“There’s a lot of great work happening in Indigenous music, but we also need to be included in the bigger projects, the bigger stages and not just as a checkmark in a box,” says Turner, who released her third album, Breathe, earlier this year.

“We put so much into this project and I’m so glad it’s getting recognized.”

Local artists returning to the winner’s circle this year include Big Dave McLean (blues artist of the year), the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (classical artist of the year), Kelly Bado (global artist of the year) and Field Guide (rock artist of the year).

The WCMAs are presented annually in conjunction with the BreakOut West conference and festival, which wraps up in Winnipeg on Sunday.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com