The music industry in Canada is paving the way for more cultural representation. It was announced by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) that two new categories have been added to the Juno awards next year. The new categories will celebrate the best in Songwriting and South Asian music.
The South Asian category will honour the musicians who blend in sounds inspired by Punjabi and Bollywood into their music. This new award has been added after BC musician, Karan Aujla made history by being the first Punjabi artist to take home the Juno’s Fan Choice Award at this year’s ceremony.
CARAS has stated that the new award "will celebrate recordings throughout the diaspora, supporting their tremendous growth and success." They also added that Canada is the heart of South Asian music.
According to Statistics Canada in 2021, over 2.3 million South Asians were living in Canada. Out of the South Asian groups living in Canada, Indians are the most populous with a total of 1.3 million. Other South Asian groups in Canada includes Pakistani (303,260), Punjabi (279,950), Sri Lankan (132,410) and Tamil (102,170).
At Seneca Polytechnic, many international students are of South Asian descent themselves. They say that the new category is good for the Canadian music industry because it will help the genre to be more recognized by listeners and that it will open the door for more inclusive categories in the future. One student added that everyone should be represented in any award regardless of class, culture or race and there should not be bias opinions when looking for talent.
Seneca Student and Student Coordinator candidate, Aryan Kaushik says that “these Juno Awards really contribute to Canadian culture because Canadian culture is so diverse." "As so many cultures over here, so many people got connected by these awards." Kaushik adds that Canada is a mother country that accepts people from all over the world.
Another student says that having a category that is exclusive to South Asian music will help those artists get recognized in the industry. Journalism student, Rhitvik Bhasin says that South Asian music was not recognized in western culture. "But right now...it's getting changed, everything is getting changed."
The Songwriting award will acknowledge the writers who have written for other recording artists. It will split the current songwriting category into two different songwriting categories. The other songwriting category will acknowledge people who have their own original songs.
Other changes will also be set for next year’s awards from the Breakthrough artist and breakthrough group being merged into one category and the Indigenous categories being rebranded to recording categories.
The 2025 Juno Awards will be held at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver on March 30th.
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