Manitoba's KEN mode and The Wailin' Jennys land Juno Awards

Two Manitoban acts landed awards at the Juno Awards gala Saturday night in Ottawa.

KEN mode is probably the most hardcore act to come out of Winnipeg -- ever. The noisecore band won its first Juno Award for Venerable, in the brand new category of "Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year." 

Band member Shane Matthewson told Weekend Morning Show host Ismaila Alfa that "we were in shock because we didn't think we were going to win." KEN mode beat out Canadian metal band icons Anvil for the honour. 

Since 1999 the trio has released four full length albums, and toured relentlessly--in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The hard work is obviously paying off.
Last week the band also got the nod from the Independent Music Awards,  for "Metal Artist/Group or Duo of the Year".

The Wailin' Jennys, celebrating 10 years together this year, lead the Manitoba pack with nominations in Roots and Traditional Album of the Year - Group and Engineer of the Year (David Travers-Smith) categories, for the group's CD Bright Morning Stars.

The Jennys are taking home the hardware for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, beating out former Winnipegger Twilight Hotel. Bright Morning Stars also scored a Western Canadian Music Award last fall. The album has also spent time in the #1 spot on Billboard's Bluegrass Albums charts. In 2005 the Jennys won a Juno for 40 days.

The other Manitoba nominees were Portage la Prairie's Doc Walker, nominated for Country Album of the Year, Bruthers of Different Muthers for Aboriginal album of the Year, Brandon's home town boy and world class violinist James Ehnes for Soloist with Large Ensemble for his Bartok: Violin and Viola Concertos recording and the late Ann Southam Glass House is up for Classical Composition of the Year.

Sunday's telecast airs on CTV and will be hosted by William Shatner, featuring performances by Blue Rodeo, Deadmau5 and Feist.