Reeny Smith

Rising Star Award winner Reeny Smith performs on the ANSMA stage in the Spatz Theatre in Halifax on Saturday night. (TED PRITCHARD / Staff)

REENY Smith, Ced & Marty, and Asia & NuGruv took the rising star, emerging artist and artist of the year awards at the African Nova Scotian Music Awards show Saturday night in Halifax.

Awards to Compu-Traxx, Deacon Harold Johnston and Corey Adams balanced the scorecard with honours from industry and education organizations in a 2½-hour show mixing performances and speeches. It was hosted by popular emcees Charla Williams and Robert Upshaw.

The audience was small, perhaps no more than 250 people, but they compensated in enthusiasm, making the year-old Spatz Theatre in Citadel High School repeatedly ring with cheers and heartfelt shouts.

The African Nova Scotian Music Association introduced a couple of surprises during the show’s 14th edition.

The lifetime achievement award was given out twice.

One went to Rev. Wallace Smith Sr., who gave a stirring performance of You Are My Life after thanking his family for changing his life, and God for making it possible. Prolonged applause and a standing ovation gave proof of Smith’s standing among African-Nova Scotians.

The second lifetime achievement award went to veteran gospel and country singer Alfred T. Bright of Weymouth, Digby County, also a popular choice.

Yet another surprise came at the end of the show.

Percy Paris, Nova Scotia’s minister of African-Nova Scotian affairs, and head of the Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Department, apologized to the Honourable Mayann E. Francis, outgoing lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, for breaking protocol and then announced to the cheering audience that it was her birthday.

A cake was produced, Francis came up on stage, blew out the candles, and, all smiles, thanked the association.The audience stood, applauded and sang, association president Louis Gannon Jr. delivered the closing remarks, Asia & NuGruv, house band for the show, gave a final performance and all adjourned to the lobby for the after-party.

The show itself was a mix of formal short speeches by Francis, Paris and Gannon, informal jokes and popular banter from Williams and Upshaw, live performances, electronic beats by Compu-Traxx between presentations, and video presentations celebrating local and national African-Canadian music stars. The most popular of these was a short clip on The Moonwalk, showing the difference between those who smoothly did the dance steps Michael Jackson made famous and those who just didn’t get it at all.

Another popular clip, titled What a Rip-Off, showed original black performers doing excerpts of pop hits such as Tutti Frutti and Hound Dog and their later imitations by white performers, including Pat Boone and Elvis Presley.

The tunes are notorious for marking the discovery of black style by white performers in the 1950s and that dramatically revolutionized pop music and rock ’n’ roll from the 1960s to the present.

( spedersen@ns.sympatico.ca)


AWARD WINNERS:

Emerging Artist Award: Ced & Marty
Lifetime Achievement: Rev. Wallace Smith Sr., Alfred T. Bright
Rising Star: Reeny Smith
Artist of the Year: Asia & NuGruv
Black Business Initiative Industry Development: Compu-Traxx Multmedia
Council on African Canadian Education Music Heritage Award: Deacon Harold Johnston
Africentric Learning Institute Music Pioneer Award: Corey Adams - The Chronicle Herald

Galaxie, Your Musical Universe, is proudly committed to supporting emerging Canadian music talent through its Galaxie Rising Star Award. The objective of this program is to help provide opportunities for up-and-coming musicians in all genres by providing showcase opportunities, monetary awards, and potential airplay on the Galaxie channels. Since its inception in 2000, over 900 artists have directly benefitted from the Galaxie Rising Stars Program.

Contestents for the 2013 Galaxie Rising Star Award included the Tyson Naylor Trio, Kirsten Olivia, Curse in the Woods, The Caravan, and Reeny Smith.

On Saturday, July 13, JazzEast and Galaxie, Your Musical Universe were pleased to announce Reeny Smith as the winner of the Galaxie Rising Star Award. The $5000 award will be used to jump start Reeny's career.

Reeny Smith, born and raised in North Preston, has been singing and playing piano since the age of five at the St. Thomas Baptist Church. She studied piano for three years at the Conservatory Of Music, after which she studied privately with Halifax-based pianist Paul Simmons. Reeny is currently studying music at St Francis Xavier University. Reeny has been receiving accolades for a number of years. In 2010 Reeny received the Nova Scotia Talent Trust’s Portia White Award. In 2011 Reeny received the Up and Coming Award at the African Nova Scotian Music Awards, participated as a young artist in the Canada Winter Games National Artist Program, and received the Black Cultural Centre President’s Award. In November, she performed at the 10th annual Portia White Award Gala Concert. In 2012 Reeny received the Rising Star Award at the African Nova Scotian Music Awards, and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust Mats Award.

JazzEast looks forward to seeing what is next for this rising star. - TD Halifax Jazz Festival