The Canadian Folk Music Awards were established in 2005 to bring greater exposure to the breadth and depth of Canadian folk music, celebrating and promoting it in all its forms. Outstanding achievements will be recognized in 19 categories, while Unsung Hero and Folk Music Canada’s Innovator Award recipients will be named in October. Sixty-eight artists and groups from nine provinces and one territory in Canada were announced as nominees during a Sept. 24 news conference at Folk Music Ontario’s Ottawa headquarters.

Bachand, who has been called “Canada’s best Celtic guitarist” by Ashley MacIsaac, with whom he’s toured, was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year and Young Performer of the Year, while his group Brishen (which means bringer of the storm) snagged nods for Instrumental Group of the Year, Ensemble of the Year and World Group of the Year. Bachand has recorded three albums and received two Irish Music Awards during the past five years. Brishen’s musical repertoire ranges from Django Reinhardt compositions to more contemporary works.

Benoit Bourque of La Bottine Souriante, and formerly of Le Vent du Nord and Matapat, joins the CBC’s Shelagh Rogers in hosting the bilingual gala awards presentation. The event marks the culmination of a CFMA weekend that begins on Nov. 27 and will feature performances by a number of talented Canadian artists. Tickets for the gala show are available to the public for $40, while weekend passes are $70.

A complete list of 2014 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees follows. More information may be found online at www.folkawards.ca.

Young Performer of the Year

Keiffer Mclean (Drama in the Attic)
Rebecca Lappa (Ode to Tennyson)
Quinn Bachand (Brishen)
Kacy & Clayton (The Day Is Past & Gone)
Benjamin Rogers (Wayfarer)

New/Emerging Artist of the Year

The Bros. Landreth (Let It Lie)
Robyn Dell’Unton (Little Lines)
Scott Cook (One More Time Around)
Quinn Bachand (Brishen)
Kacy & Clayton (The Day Is Past & Gone)

Pushing The Boundaries (celebrating innovation in creating new folk sounds)

Tanya Tagag (Animism)
MAZ (Chasse-Galerie)
Mark Berube (Russian Dolls)
The Fretless (The Fretless)
West My Friend (When The Ink Dries)

English Songwriter of the Year

Shari Ulrich (Everywhere I Go)
James Keelaghan (History)
Lennie Gallant (Live Acoustic at The Carlton)
Del Barber (Prairieography)
Chris Ronald (Timeline)

French Songwriter of the Year

Laurence Helie (A Present le Passe)
Klo Pelgag (L’Alchimie des monstres)
Alexandre Poulin (Le movement des marees)
Antoine Corriveau (Les Ombres Longues)
Julie Aube, Viviane Roy et Katrine Noel – Les Hay Babies (Mon Homesick Heart)

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year

Tanya Tagag (Animism)
Vince Fontaine (Colors)
Amanda Rheaume (Keep a Fire)
Buffy MacNeil and Larry Boutilier – Buffy & Larry (Surrounded)
Jasmine Netsena (Take You With Me)

World Group of the Year

MAZ (Chasse-Galerie)
Shtreimi (Eastern Hora)
TANGA (HavanaElectro)
Romain Malagnoux (Les frontiers Imaginaires)
Brishen (Brishen)

World Solo Artist of the Year

Quique Escamilla (500 Years of Night)
Jorge Martinez (Carnaval)
Susan Aglukark (Dreaming Of Home)
Amanda Martinez (Manana)
Robert Michaels (Via Italia)

Traditional Album of the Year

Coig (Five)
Poor Angus (Gathering)
Moustafa Kouyate & Romain Malagnoux (Les fronteres imaginaires)
The High Bar Gang (Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion)
Sarah Jane Scouten (The Cape)

Traditional Singer of the Year

Kim Beggs (Beauty and Breaking)
Fafard & Schwartz (Borrowed Horses)
Melisande [electrotrad] (Les metamorphoses)
Sarah Jane Scouten (The Cape)
Ventanas (Ventanas)

Contemporary Album of the Year

The Bros. Landreth (Let It Lie)
Colleen Rennison (See The Sky About To Rain)
Jill Zmud (Small Matters of Life and Death)
Matt Andersen (Weightless)
The Strumbellas (We Still Move On Dance Floors)

Contemporary Singer of the Year

Matthew Barber (Big Romance)
Jadea Kelly (Clover)
James Keelaghan (History)
Del Barber (Prairieography)
Matt Andersen (Weightless)

Instrumental Group of the Year

The Andrew Collins Trio (A Play On Words)
MAZ (Chasse Galerie)
Coig (Five)
Brishen (Brishen)
The Fretless (The Fretless)

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year

Maxim Cormier (2)
Gillian Boucher (Attuned)
Steve Dawson (Rattlesnake Cage)
Jayme Stone (The Other Side of the Air)
Robert Michaels (Via Italia)

Vocal Group of the Year

The Fugitives (Everything Will Happen)
Gathering Sparks (Gathering Sparks)
The High Bar Gang (Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion)
The Marrieds (Saving Hope)
Sweet Alibi (We’ve Got To)

Ensemble of the Year

The High Bar Gang (Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion)
Brishen (Brishen)
Notre Dame de Grass (That’s How The Music Begins)
The Fretless (The Fretless)
Ventanas (Ventanas)

Solo Artist of the Year

Matthew Barber (Big Romance)
Shari Ulrich (Everywhere I Go)
James Keelaghan (History)
Lennie Gallant (Live Acoustic at The Carleton)
Del Barber (Prairieography)

Children’s Album of the Year

Helen Austin (Colour It)
Rattle and Strum (Rattle and Strum)
Alex Mahe (Reveiillons les bonnes chansons)
Kathy Reid Naiman (When It’s Autumn)
Fred Penner (Where In The World)

Producer of the Year

Maziade (Chasse-Galerie – MAZ)
Tom Terrell and Karl Falkenham (City Ghosts – The Modern Grass)
Luke Doucet (Ephemere sans repere – Whitehorse)
The Fretless with Joby Baker (The Fretless)
Steve Dawson (St. Louis Times – Jim Byrnes)

Artists slated to perform include Barleyjuice, Blackwater, Brownpenny, Burning Bridget Cleary, Dublin 5, The Elders, Emish, Four Leaf Clovers, Full Set, Glengarry Bhoys, Jamison, Seamus Kennedy, Kilmaine Saints, Long Time Courting, Makem & Spain Brothers, Carl Peterson, Piper’s Request, Poor Angus, RUNA, Slainte, Craig Thatcher & Nyk VanDyk, and Timlin & Kane. Other musical attractions during the weekend include pipe band, fiddle and drum major competitions. Irish dancers from the Irish Stars School of Irish Dance and the O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance also will take part in the festivities, as will several Irish and Irish-American comedians.

North America’s largest highland games take place during the Celtic Classic. The U.S. National Highland Athletic Championships will include the lifting of heavy stone, throwing 16 and 22-pound hammers, and tossing of the sheaf and caber. Border collie exhibitions, a “Showing of the Tartan” parade, a Guinness “Pour a Perfect Pint” contest, a new children’s tent, instructional contra and ceili dancing, clan tents, and a Celtic marketplace featuring crafts, merchandise and collectibles also are on tap.

The festival grounds are located along the banks of Monocracy Creek and adjacent to downtown Bethlehem’s Main Street shopping area. More information on one of the most popular events in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, including daily schedules, may be found at www.celticfest.org.