Pierre Kwenders has won the 2022 Polaris Music Prize for his 2022 album, José Louis and the Paradox of Love. 

An 11-member jury selected the record as the Canadian album of the year, based solely on artistic merit. This announcement was made at the Carlu in Toronto on Sept. 19, at Polaris’s first in-person celebration since 2019 due to the pandemic.

In his emotional acceptance speech, Kwenders paid tribute to three family members he lost recently: his two cousins and his godfather. “The reason why I do what I do, why I tell the story that I tell,” he said, “is to tell the