Tanya Tagaq’s Album, Renowned Musician, Member of the Order of Canada and Juno Award Winner Languages is on the long list for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize.

Released in January, Languages is presented by his label, Six Shooter Records, as Tagaq “in its most explicit and specific form”.

The album incorporates text passages from his 2018 debut novel split tootha depiction of a young Inuk girl growing up in an unnamed town in what is now Nunavut.

One of Tagaq’s singles on the album, also called Languageswas released ahead of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada last year.

The song contains lyrics such as “I don’t want your shame, it’s not mine” and “I don’t want your god”, directly addressing the horrors and crises instead of alluding to them as in its past releases, according to a press release from the label.

The Polaris Music Prize long list includes 40 albums by famous Canadian artists, including The Halluci Nation, Arcade Fire and Joyful Joyful.

This year, a total of 223 albums were reviewed by the award’s 197-member jury.

The short list, which will consist of 10 albums, is set to be unveiled on July 14.

The Polaris Music Prize will then award $50,000 to a winning artist for creating Canadian Album of the Year, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales.

Last year’s winner was Cadence Weapon, for the album Parallel World.

The other nine nominated artists whose albums are on the shortlist will receive $3,000 each.