April 29, 2025 • 23 mins
THE 2025 CANADIAN SELAH MUSIC AWARDS (CSMA): A CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE IN CHRISTIAN MUSIC!
Pastor Bob Thibodeau engages in a profound conversation with Dr. Elio Alcindor, shedding light on the transformative impact of the Canadian Sila Music Awards (CSMA) on the Christian music landscape. The episode emphasizes the awards' mission to elevate both local and international talent, fostering a vibrant community where artists can flourish and gain essential exposure. Dr. Alcindor articulates the importance of recognizing diverse voices within the global Christian music scene, highlighting categories specifically designed for Canadian artists while also welcoming international contributions. Through this initiative, they aim to bridge cultural gaps and promote collaboration among artists from various backgrounds, thereby amplifying the gospel's reach. The discussion further delves into the challenges and aspirations of organizing this inaugural event, underscoring a commitment to creating a night that prioritizes worship and community over competition.
Takeaways:
- Pastor Bob Thibodeau conducts insightful interviews with influential Christian figures, amplifying their impactful messages globally.
- The Canadian SELA Music Awards aim to elevate local Christian artists by providing them significant exposure on an international platform.
- Dr. Elio Alcindor, a multifaceted individual, shares his journey from Haiti to Canada, emphasizing the importance of faith and resilience in adversity.
- The awards feature diverse categories, promoting inclusivity by recognizing talent from various languages and cultures, thereby enriching the Christian music community.
- With 38 categories, including those exclusively for Canadian artists, the awards strive to create a vibrant atmosphere of recognition and celebration.
- The podcast emphasizes the necessity for collaboration among churches and businesses to foster growth and reach within the Christian music sector.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Email: info@canadianselahmusicawards.com
Website: https://canadianselahmusicawards.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canadianselahmusicawards/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/canadianselahmusicawards
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Welcome to the KingdomCrossroads podcast with Pastor Bob
Thibodeau.
Pastor Bob conducts personalinterviews with Christian influencers
from around the globe, helpingChristian authors, recording artists,
CEOs, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and yes, pastors
and ministry leaders to getthe word out about what they are
(00:31):
doing to impact the world withthe gospel.
Our podcast has been rated inthe top 1/2% of all podcasts in the
world by ListenNotes.com soyou know your message will be heard.
Now here is your host withtoday's interview, Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Hello everyone everywhere.
(00:51):
Pastor Bob Thibodeau here.
Welcome to the KingdomCrossroads podcast.
Today we are so blessed you'rejoining us.
Have you ever wondered what ittakes to launch a Christian music
artist into the spotlight orhave a powerful worship song that
makes it way from just a smallchurch stage to an international
(01:11):
platform?
Well, today you're going tofind out.
My guest today is Dr.
Elio Alcindor, a physician,ultrasound instructor and an award
winning gospel artist himselfas well.
Amen.
He's also the president of, ofthe Canadian SELA Music Awards program.
Praise God.
This is one of the biggestcelebrations of faith filled music
(01:31):
in North America.
Help me.
Welcome to the program Dr.
Elio Sendor.
Elio, it is a blessing to haveyou with us today, brother.
I've been looking forward to today.
Good morning, Pastor Robert.
It's really a pleasure, aprivilege to be in your program today.
I'm so excited to share aboutwhat we're doing here of here in
the north in Canada with theCanadian Sila Music Awards.
(01:55):
Amen.
Amen.
Now you're off in Vancouverarea, is that right?
No, I'm in Calgary, kind of Calgary.
Calgary, okay.
Close, close to Vancouver?
Close enough, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
But you're out on the west coast.
On the west coast.
Okay.
I have relatives over on theeast coast.
I got relatives in, in London, Ontario.
(02:16):
Oh, wow.
That's, that's where.
Yeah, the name Thibodeau, youknow, I mean that's, that's where
we hail from.
I was born and raised inMichigan, just about two miles from
the Canadian border.
But so, but we used to go backhome all the time and matter of fact,
you know, you'll probably evenhear me say it a few times.
It's just my nature.
I still use the A, you know,and everything I say, that's, that's
(02:38):
just how I was raised.
Eh?
That's good, that's good.
But anyway, we got that tie inthere right there.
Praise God.
But, but the first question Ialways start with is this.
Other than that briefinformation I just shared, can you
tell us in your own words whois Dr.
Elio Alcindor?
(02:59):
I can just say that I'm aservant of God.
I was born in Haiti, raised inHaiti, and after high school I went
to Latin America to studymedicine where I was graduated as
a medical doctor.
I worked there for many years,went to the U.S.
did some study in the U.S.
(03:19):
and then went back to work inthe Dominican as missionary with
my family and then moved backto Venezuela to work as missionary
and also as a physician.
And in 2015, God sent us to Canada.
Actually, I came with mychildren because my wife passed away
(03:39):
in 2014.
My kids was very little andwas a hard, a very hard time.
But you know, God, God is good.
He's been there and you know,and he has helped me to move forward
with the.
The kids and move to Canada in 2015.
Here we are and we're workingfor the kingdom as we working in
(04:00):
the medical field.
It's been a.
It's been.
It's been a good, a good journey.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, what inspired you to getinvolved with the Canadian Salem
Music Awards?
That's really a good question.
As you said before, I also,I'm also a gospel artist.
(04:22):
I've been working in praiseand worship ministry for quite few
years now.
I have heard from many, manyfriends, they are very frustrated
about what they've been doing.
Amazing work, invest a lot inmusic and they're very frustrated
about not having enoughexposure about what they're doing.
(04:43):
So that have been what I'vebeen listening from so many people,
so many artists, especiallyhere in Canada.
You know, in Canada we havesuch amazing talents, but people
doesn't know about them.
They are very fantastic.
They are doing amazing work,amazing music, but not everybody
has ever heard from them.
(05:04):
So.
And then I prayed about it andGod gave me the vision and alongside
with my wife, we said, okay,we should do something about it.
And we put together a veryamazing and amazing team to work
about to do the Canadian SilaMusic Award.
And so far it's been a blessing.
How many years have you beendoing this?
(05:25):
Oh, this is the first.
This is our first year.
This is the first year justlaunching it.
Amen.
A lot of people cannotunderstand it because we have had
a such a great success withjust the organization of the first
year.
And people think that, youknow, we've been there our own for
many, many years.
But yeah, this is the first time.
(05:47):
Oh, praise God.
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm lookingat everything.
I was like, man, you know, I can't.
This thing's got to be, youknow, mature.
It's kind of like the.
The Academy Awards or something.
You know, it's been going on a while.
That's why we're trying to do.
Amen.
Amen.
Praise God.
Well, the CSMA that's.
It seems to uniquely celebrateboth Canadian and international Christian
(06:11):
artists.
I mean, how important is thatglobal reach?
And let me just say, like,what kind of impact do you see it
having on the Christian music community?
That's also a good question.
What we're trying to do, orlet's put it that way, the vision
God gave us is it's kind oflike doing something.
(06:33):
As you can see, the categories.
We have categories forspecifically for Canadian just to
create certain exposure for them.
Just to make people get tolisten to the songs.
Just.
We have 100 board membersvoting for their artists.
Just these 100 people canlisten to the songs.
That's a good exposure.
(06:54):
But just to name something.
But on the other hand, we wantto bring all the international artists
to come to Canada to realizehow beautiful the country is and
how beautiful work that ourartists is doing in the country,
and then they can bringsomething from there and go to their
own country to talk about moreexposure for artists.
(07:17):
The idea is to not only haveCanadian categories, but have international
categories, which we callgeneral categories, where we have
internal artists and Canadianartists mixed together to do such
a great mix of artists andhave a good pool of categories for.
For.
For.
For this Canadian City Music Awards.
(07:38):
Amen.
Amen.
That's.
That's amazing too.
And you know, this year'sevent has 38 different award categories,
including 13 that are reservedexclusively for Canadian artists.
Now why do you think is vitalto highlight both local and international
talent side by side like this?
(07:58):
As I said, you.
We didn't want to put all ourCanadian artists together with international
artists.
We will be more busier forthem to.
To get more nomination.
For example, for instance, ifyou have five people in a category
nominated.
Five people nominated.
(08:18):
So we wanted to have them ontheir own and at the same time have
them side by side with theinternational artist.
Create curiosity from theinternational artist to.
To know the Canadian artistand at the same time, for the Canadian
artists to know theseinternational artists.
That's.
That's.
That's.
That's really amazing.
And.
And the impact we've havingfrom Africa, Europe and every.
(08:40):
Everywhere in the US It's.
It's just amazing.
Just amazing.
Amen now you also have foreignlanguage categories.
Can you tell us about theforeign language categories and how
important that is in order toopen up the new doors for artists
who may otherwise beoverlooked in the traditional Christian
music award shows?
(09:03):
Let me say that we most likelyunderstand that English, French and
Spanish are the three mostspoken languages that people like
in terms of music.
People will most likely belistening songs in English in the
first place and sometimes inSpanish, sometimes in French.
(09:23):
But.
But you.
We do understand there are.
There might be a.
A Chinese artist doing suchamazing song or a German artist doing
such amazing work for theKingdom of God.
They haven't had exposurebecause for us, most important thing
is to recognize everybodywherever you are.
There might be a person inNigeria who doesn't speak, who doesn't
(09:45):
was.
Didn't do a song in English,but he's doing an amazing song that
we might be highly qualifiedto get an award or at least to get
a nomination.
So we opened a foreignlanguage just to do not put it like
to do not put it in a box ofEnglish, French and Spanish to open
the door for people who mightbe speaking in Japanese.
(10:07):
Like last time we have anIndonesian TV station contacted us
because they heard about whatwe're doing.
They wanted to do an interviewto understand what the foreign language
is about so their Indonesian arts.
Christian artists can applyfor our hours.
So this is a very.
Something very particularwe're doing in our CSMA that I haven't
(10:27):
seen it anywhere else.
So we just open the foreign language.
So anybody anywhere in theworld, as soon as you do in Christian
content with good productionand good words to impact life, to
transform life, to bring hopefor people through music, through
Christian music.
You are welcome to apply.
(10:48):
Amen.
Amen.
I know you know there's goingto be gospel singers there, but what
about like gospel bands or.
Or just instrumental music?
Is that open, is thatcategories there as well?
We haven't had any we forthis, this time around.
We don't have instrumental,but this is something we are exploring
(11:08):
for next year.
We are exploring instrumental,we are exploring choirs, we are exploring
children ministries.
There's many other categorieswe're trying to add for next for
D.C.
we unfortunately we don't havethem yet, but this is something we
have in mind.
Amen.
Amen.
So how do events like CMSAhelp Christian artists gain that
(11:33):
exposure and gain thatcredibility they need in order to
grow their ministries?
Yes, as I said, there's a lotof frustration out there.
There's a lot of it saidChristian music Should never be a
competition because we allworking for the kingdom of God.
The Bible says there's a lotof work to do.
(11:54):
There's not a lot of workers,let's put it that way.
Like my interpretations.
So more artists we havebetter, we can do the work.
So the problem is it's becomelike kind of a competition, I put
it that way.
So if you, if God give you thegrace to get to a place where you
can get a nomination withGrammys, you can get a mission with
(12:16):
12 hours or Stella Awards orany other big hours out there.
So it creates a lot ofexposure for you.
Because myself, as soon as Isee somebody get denomination requirements,
I say, oh, I haven't heardfrom that person.
Let me dig to know who's that artist.
And it creates it.
Believe it or not, awardsorganization are there to create
(12:36):
exposure indirectly ordirectly from for the artist.
So we're trying to have a lotof reach, trying to our wish to get
to every continent.
So in that way people willhave curiosity about everybody that
are nominated.
We think it's.
It's a great way to create arelationship for artists.
(12:58):
Amen.
Have you had any, like musicproducers or record companies express
interest in and coming outmore or less doing like a.
Use it as a exposure for theirlabels and things like that?
We do, we do.
We have plenty.
We have from Africa, we havefrom Europe, like from England, we
(13:19):
have from Australia.
They heard about what we're doing.
They really, they think it's interesting.
The vision we have, the mission.
They kind of identify thatit's a good thing, it's a good tools.
They really feel like, okay,we want to know more about them.
And we have more than 10, 20times of people that applied this
(13:41):
year for next, asking for nextyear already, so.
Amen.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's.
It's really, really.
It's really a blessing our God is.
Has been doing through these awards.
We are so thankful and we dohave these people contacting us.
Hey, man, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So behind the scenes now,where you're operating at, what are
(14:04):
some of the biggest challengesand Jo of putting together a celebration
of this magnitude?
Oh, wow.
I would say, believe it ornot, because it's our first time,
there is a big stress amongthe team because we're trying to
do something extremelyprofessionally done.
(14:26):
We want everybody responsiblefor whatever area they're working
in.
To be doing such a great jobin my position as Sharon, its position
or every other people on the board.
Our stress is like for Ourmembers, our team to be.
To execute every aspectaspects from that receiving the artists
(14:49):
coming and TV interviews,radio interviews, everything to be
very well done so we can havea great success.
And not only that, we want thenight to be a night of praise and
worship more than giving anaward to an artist.
We wanted God to be the center.
We want God to be in themiddle of what we're doing.
We want that the first goal,that's the main goal.
(15:12):
And then while we're doingthat, we are knowing people who've
been trying to do that kind of stuff.
People working in ministry forlong times.
So the stress is.
I would say this is the big challenge.
Try to keep the stress down.
We trust God about what we'redoing and we know he's going to be
great.
But you know, on the humanside, you know, it's always like,
(15:33):
okay, we need to do that, weneed to work that and take always
a warning.
One in one.
And that is non stop for likewe've been doing that for.
We've been working for three,four months already.
So we still have two moremonths to go.
So that the stress, I wouldsay keep the stress down.
Amen.
Amen.
So how far out?
(15:55):
Well, you know, like we knowthis one's more or less in the can.
It is now.
I mean it's so close you cantaste it.
What about next year's?
Have you already started theplanning for next year?
Yeah, we already working onapplication because we want to open
our application, make it more broad.
(16:16):
And so we.
The only thing we've beenworking in dates and applications.
But so far we keep it in mind.
But you know, we are so busywith this one.
It's hard to leave this one onthe side and go work on the other
one.
But we know that we have to start.
We already started but not bigthing has done.
But as soon as we finish thisone, we will be happy.
(16:39):
Well, the reason I ask thatbecause you know, you have everybody
there, you have the mediaattention there.
It's always a good spot toannounce next year, you know, and
here it is.
Well, we keep, we keep doing it.
We keep doing it.
We.
As for for now we knowregistration will be open in September.
You know with the awards forthis would be June 27th.
(17:00):
But as September the.
The registration will be openfor next.
Next next.
Next edition.
Yeah.
Amen.
Amen.
Because you know, like Iworked with a music ministry.
Wow.
Way back 1998.
99.
And we did 48 concerts in 48 weeks.
In 48 different cities.
And I was always working sixweeks ahead because I was the one
(17:23):
that had to organize it all.
That was my.
My department.
So we'd be traveling toRichmond, Virginia for a concert
on Friday, followed up byMinneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday,
and fly home.
And, well, when Dr.
Johnson would fly home, Iwould be flying out Sunday morning
to Dallas, Texas, becausethat's where we are six weeks from
(17:46):
now.
And I'm out there promotingit, meeting with the churches and
doing all that stuff.
So, as I say, you're alwaysway ahead of where you're actually
at.
Yeah, tonight's the concert in Richmond.
We're here, we're doing it.
It's on.
But as soon as this thing'sdone, I've already got my marching
orders.
Far ahead.
That's why I was asking, youknow, how far away are you planning
(18:07):
next year?
You know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, next year.
We try to keep it for June.
We try to keep it for June,but as I said, we always have the
date.
The registration will be September.
An application will beavailable for everybody by September.
And that's exciting.
Yeah, yeah.
This is exciting.
And it's an ongoing process.
It will never end.
(18:29):
Never end.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, you know, although itmay be a bit late for this year,
how can churches, ministries,Christian businesses get involved
as sponsors or supporters?
And.
And what does that kind ofpartnership mean for spreading the
gospel through music?
Okay.
It's not too late.
It's not too late because it'sour first year.
(18:50):
We leave it open for anybodywho identify themselves with what
we're doing.
It can be a church, it can bea business.
We need them.
We do need them.
So we have different partnership.
We have media partnership withwhere in media.
We say, okay, we will be incharge of making promotion for your
(19:12):
awards every week.
We give you that amount ofminutes on our radio station or our
TV station will be.
And what we do ourselves, weput the logo in our flowers, put
a logo on our promotion on ourwebsite, social media.
We have them for.
For quite.
For until we finish this time around.
And if the major want to winyou, we win you.
(19:32):
And at the same time, we have business.
Also.
They are open to give economicsupport because we do need that in
order to.
To do the best we can withwhat we're doing.
They were welcome.
They just contact us and wesend a package to them.
We have different packagepackages that they can read up and
(19:54):
choose from there.
And then we can also customize.
We have customized packagedepending on what they need, what.
What their needs are.
So they are free to contact usby email or just by social media
anywhere that in, in, in anyway they want to, they are welcome
to be part of it.
And because we are there topromote Christian artists and we
(20:15):
want them to, if they want tosupport that, we are, they are welcome.
Yeah, this is so interestingand kind of like, it's kind of exciting.
Amen.
I know there's people outthere right now, they probably have
some questions about what wediscussed today about the 2025.
The 2025 Canadian Salem MusicAwards getting ready for 2026.
(20:36):
But how can they get more information?
How can someone get in touchwith you?
You go to our website, WWCanadian SILA.
Musicawards.com is SILA with SE L H.
So you, you go there, you findinformation or you can go directly
to our Instagram or Facebook.
Canadian Sila Music Awards,you can, you can send us an email
(20:58):
info@canadiansilamusicawards.com so anyway you
can, you either, you go to thewebsite and you still, you still
have more questions, go toFrequently Asked questions section.
You can have more information.
If you still have morequestion, feel free to reach out
to us by mail or social media.
We are very open and in ourwebsite there is a contact form too.
(21:19):
You just, from there, you justcontact us and we are very happy
to answer any question.
Amen.
Amen.
I'll put links all this in theshow notes below.
Praise God.
They can do that.
They can do that in Englishand Spanish and French.
We answer in any of these languages.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, folks, the 2025 Canadiansila music Awards, it's more than
(21:43):
an event.
This is a beginning of amovement honoring excellence in Christian
music.
I mean, with the support ofleaders like Dr.
Elio Alcindor, the gospel isreaching new heights.
You need to go drop down theshows, click the links right there.
VisitCanadiansalamusicawards.com to learn
more and consider supportingthis powerful kingdom effort today.
(22:05):
Amen.
Praise God.
Dr.
Lilly, I want to thank youagain for taking the time to come
on the program today andsharing all about this great event,
man, I do appreciate it so much.
Thank you so much.
Pastor Bo.
Thank you for all youraudience who have been listening
and it's a pleasure and wewelcome them to go to our website
and our social media and getmore information about what we're
(22:27):
doing here in Canada.
Amen.
Amen.
Folks, that's all the time wehave for today for Dr.
Elson, newer and myself passedby reminding you to be blessed in
all that you do.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode of the Kingdom Crossroads
Podcast.
Please subscribe to ourpodcast so you can be notified when
another episode is published.
(22:47):
With over 800 interviews and1000 published episodes, Pastor Bob
is known as a podcastingexpert for helping others to create
their own podcast to sharetheir messages with the world.
Please visit our website@www.podcastersforchrist.com.
that web address again is www.podcastersforchrist.Com.
(23:12):
for more information.
Until next time, be blessed inall that.
Welcome to the KingdomCrossroads podcast with Pastor Bob
Thibodeau.
Pastor Bob conducts personalinterviews with Christian influencers
from around the globe, helpingChristian authors, recording artists,
CEOs, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and yes, pastors
and ministry leaders to getthe word out about what they are
(00:31):
doing to impact the world withthe gospel.
Our podcast has been rated inthe top 1/2% of all podcasts in the
world by ListenNotes.com soyou know your message will be heard.
Now here is your host withtoday's interview, Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Hello everyone everywhere.
(00:51):
Pastor Bob Thibodeau here.
Welcome to the KingdomCrossroads podcast.
Today we are so blessed you'rejoining us.
Have you ever wondered what ittakes to launch a Christian music
artist into the spotlight orhave a powerful worship song that
makes it way from just a smallchurch stage to an international
(01:11):
platform?
Well, today you're going tofind out.
My guest today is Dr.
Elio Alcindor, a physician,ultrasound instructor and an award
winning gospel artist himselfas well.
Amen.
He's also the president of, ofthe Canadian SELA Music Awards program.
Praise God.
This is one of the biggestcelebrations of faith filled music
(01:31):
in North America.
Help me.
Welcome to the program Dr.
Elio Sendor.
Elio, it is a blessing to haveyou with us today, brother.
I've been looking forward to today.
Good morning, Pastor Robert.
It's really a pleasure, aprivilege to be in your program today.
I'm so excited to share aboutwhat we're doing here of here in
the north in Canada with theCanadian Sila Music Awards.
(01:55):
Amen.
Amen.
Now you're off in Vancouverarea, is that right?
No, I'm in Calgary, kind of Calgary.
Calgary, okay.
Close, close to Vancouver?
Close enough, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
But you're out on the west coast.
On the west coast.
Okay.
I have relatives over on theeast coast.
I got relatives in, in London, Ontario.
(02:16):
Oh, wow.
That's, that's where.
Yeah, the name Thibodeau, youknow, I mean that's, that's where
we hail from.
I was born and raised inMichigan, just about two miles from
the Canadian border.
But so, but we used to go backhome all the time and matter of fact,
you know, you'll probably evenhear me say it a few times.
It's just my nature.
I still use the A, you know,and everything I say, that's, that's
(02:38):
just how I was raised.
Eh?
That's good, that's good.
But anyway, we got that tie inthere right there.
Praise God.
But, but the first question Ialways start with is this.
Other than that briefinformation I just shared, can you
tell us in your own words whois Dr.
Elio Alcindor?
(02:59):
I can just say that I'm aservant of God.
I was born in Haiti, raised inHaiti, and after high school I went
to Latin America to studymedicine where I was graduated as
a medical doctor.
I worked there for many years,went to the U.S.
did some study in the U.S.
(03:19):
and then went back to work inthe Dominican as missionary with
my family and then moved backto Venezuela to work as missionary
and also as a physician.
And in 2015, God sent us to Canada.
Actually, I came with mychildren because my wife passed away
(03:39):
in 2014.
My kids was very little andwas a hard, a very hard time.
But you know, God, God is good.
He's been there and you know,and he has helped me to move forward
with the.
The kids and move to Canada in 2015.
Here we are and we're workingfor the kingdom as we working in
(04:00):
the medical field.
It's been a.
It's been.
It's been a good, a good journey.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, what inspired you to getinvolved with the Canadian Salem
Music Awards?
That's really a good question.
As you said before, I also,I'm also a gospel artist.
(04:22):
I've been working in praiseand worship ministry for quite few
years now.
I have heard from many, manyfriends, they are very frustrated
about what they've been doing.
Amazing work, invest a lot inmusic and they're very frustrated
about not having enoughexposure about what they're doing.
(04:43):
So that have been what I'vebeen listening from so many people,
so many artists, especiallyhere in Canada.
You know, in Canada we havesuch amazing talents, but people
doesn't know about them.
They are very fantastic.
They are doing amazing work,amazing music, but not everybody
has ever heard from them.
(05:04):
So.
And then I prayed about it andGod gave me the vision and alongside
with my wife, we said, okay,we should do something about it.
And we put together a veryamazing and amazing team to work
about to do the Canadian SilaMusic Award.
And so far it's been a blessing.
How many years have you beendoing this?
(05:25):
Oh, this is the first.
This is our first year.
This is the first year justlaunching it.
Amen.
A lot of people cannotunderstand it because we have had
a such a great success withjust the organization of the first
year.
And people think that, youknow, we've been there our own for
many, many years.
But yeah, this is the first time.
(05:47):
Oh, praise God.
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm lookingat everything.
I was like, man, you know, I can't.
This thing's got to be, youknow, mature.
It's kind of like the.
The Academy Awards or something.
You know, it's been going on a while.
That's why we're trying to do.
Amen.
Amen.
Praise God.
Well, the CSMA that's.
It seems to uniquely celebrateboth Canadian and international Christian
(06:11):
artists.
I mean, how important is thatglobal reach?
And let me just say, like,what kind of impact do you see it
having on the Christian music community?
That's also a good question.
What we're trying to do, orlet's put it that way, the vision
God gave us is it's kind oflike doing something.
(06:33):
As you can see, the categories.
We have categories forspecifically for Canadian just to
create certain exposure for them.
Just to make people get tolisten to the songs.
Just.
We have 100 board membersvoting for their artists.
Just these 100 people canlisten to the songs.
That's a good exposure.
(06:54):
But just to name something.
But on the other hand, we wantto bring all the international artists
to come to Canada to realizehow beautiful the country is and
how beautiful work that ourartists is doing in the country,
and then they can bringsomething from there and go to their
own country to talk about moreexposure for artists.
(07:17):
The idea is to not only haveCanadian categories, but have international
categories, which we callgeneral categories, where we have
internal artists and Canadianartists mixed together to do such
a great mix of artists andhave a good pool of categories for.
For.
For.
For this Canadian City Music Awards.
(07:38):
Amen.
Amen.
That's.
That's amazing too.
And you know, this year'sevent has 38 different award categories,
including 13 that are reservedexclusively for Canadian artists.
Now why do you think is vitalto highlight both local and international
talent side by side like this?
(07:58):
As I said, you.
We didn't want to put all ourCanadian artists together with international
artists.
We will be more busier forthem to.
To get more nomination.
For example, for instance, ifyou have five people in a category
nominated.
Five people nominated.
(08:18):
So we wanted to have them ontheir own and at the same time have
them side by side with theinternational artist.
Create curiosity from theinternational artist to.
To know the Canadian artistand at the same time, for the Canadian
artists to know theseinternational artists.
That's.
That's.
That's.
That's really amazing.
And.
And the impact we've havingfrom Africa, Europe and every.
(08:40):
Everywhere in the US It's.
It's just amazing.
Just amazing.
Amen now you also have foreignlanguage categories.
Can you tell us about theforeign language categories and how
important that is in order toopen up the new doors for artists
who may otherwise beoverlooked in the traditional Christian
music award shows?
(09:03):
Let me say that we most likelyunderstand that English, French and
Spanish are the three mostspoken languages that people like
in terms of music.
People will most likely belistening songs in English in the
first place and sometimes inSpanish, sometimes in French.
(09:23):
But.
But you.
We do understand there are.
There might be a.
A Chinese artist doing suchamazing song or a German artist doing
such amazing work for theKingdom of God.
They haven't had exposurebecause for us, most important thing
is to recognize everybodywherever you are.
There might be a person inNigeria who doesn't speak, who doesn't
(09:45):
was.
Didn't do a song in English,but he's doing an amazing song that
we might be highly qualifiedto get an award or at least to get
a nomination.
So we opened a foreignlanguage just to do not put it like
to do not put it in a box ofEnglish, French and Spanish to open
the door for people who mightbe speaking in Japanese.
(10:07):
Like last time we have anIndonesian TV station contacted us
because they heard about whatwe're doing.
They wanted to do an interviewto understand what the foreign language
is about so their Indonesian arts.
Christian artists can applyfor our hours.
So this is a very.
Something very particularwe're doing in our CSMA that I haven't
(10:27):
seen it anywhere else.
So we just open the foreign language.
So anybody anywhere in theworld, as soon as you do in Christian
content with good productionand good words to impact life, to
transform life, to bring hopefor people through music, through
Christian music.
You are welcome to apply.
(10:48):
Amen.
Amen.
I know you know there's goingto be gospel singers there, but what
about like gospel bands or.
Or just instrumental music?
Is that open, is thatcategories there as well?
We haven't had any we forthis, this time around.
We don't have instrumental,but this is something we are exploring
(11:08):
for next year.
We are exploring instrumental,we are exploring choirs, we are exploring
children ministries.
There's many other categorieswe're trying to add for next for
D.C.
we unfortunately we don't havethem yet, but this is something we
have in mind.
Amen.
Amen.
So how do events like CMSAhelp Christian artists gain that
(11:33):
exposure and gain thatcredibility they need in order to
grow their ministries?
Yes, as I said, there's a lotof frustration out there.
There's a lot of it saidChristian music Should never be a
competition because we allworking for the kingdom of God.
The Bible says there's a lotof work to do.
(11:54):
There's not a lot of workers,let's put it that way.
Like my interpretations.
So more artists we havebetter, we can do the work.
So the problem is it's becomelike kind of a competition, I put
it that way.
So if you, if God give you thegrace to get to a place where you
can get a nomination withGrammys, you can get a mission with
(12:16):
12 hours or Stella Awards orany other big hours out there.
So it creates a lot ofexposure for you.
Because myself, as soon as Isee somebody get denomination requirements,
I say, oh, I haven't heardfrom that person.
Let me dig to know who's that artist.
And it creates it.
Believe it or not, awardsorganization are there to create
(12:36):
exposure indirectly ordirectly from for the artist.
So we're trying to have a lotof reach, trying to our wish to get
to every continent.
So in that way people willhave curiosity about everybody that
are nominated.
We think it's.
It's a great way to create arelationship for artists.
(12:58):
Amen.
Have you had any, like musicproducers or record companies express
interest in and coming outmore or less doing like a.
Use it as a exposure for theirlabels and things like that?
We do, we do.
We have plenty.
We have from Africa, we havefrom Europe, like from England, we
(13:19):
have from Australia.
They heard about what we're doing.
They really, they think it's interesting.
The vision we have, the mission.
They kind of identify thatit's a good thing, it's a good tools.
They really feel like, okay,we want to know more about them.
And we have more than 10, 20times of people that applied this
(13:41):
year for next, asking for nextyear already, so.
Amen.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's.
It's really, really.
It's really a blessing our God is.
Has been doing through these awards.
We are so thankful and we dohave these people contacting us.
Hey, man, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So behind the scenes now,where you're operating at, what are
(14:04):
some of the biggest challengesand Jo of putting together a celebration
of this magnitude?
Oh, wow.
I would say, believe it ornot, because it's our first time,
there is a big stress amongthe team because we're trying to
do something extremelyprofessionally done.
(14:26):
We want everybody responsiblefor whatever area they're working
in.
To be doing such a great jobin my position as Sharon, its position
or every other people on the board.
Our stress is like for Ourmembers, our team to be.
To execute every aspectaspects from that receiving the artists
(14:49):
coming and TV interviews,radio interviews, everything to be
very well done so we can havea great success.
And not only that, we want thenight to be a night of praise and
worship more than giving anaward to an artist.
We wanted God to be the center.
We want God to be in themiddle of what we're doing.
We want that the first goal,that's the main goal.
(15:12):
And then while we're doingthat, we are knowing people who've
been trying to do that kind of stuff.
People working in ministry forlong times.
So the stress is.
I would say this is the big challenge.
Try to keep the stress down.
We trust God about what we'redoing and we know he's going to be
great.
But you know, on the humanside, you know, it's always like,
(15:33):
okay, we need to do that, weneed to work that and take always
a warning.
One in one.
And that is non stop for likewe've been doing that for.
We've been working for three,four months already.
So we still have two moremonths to go.
So that the stress, I wouldsay keep the stress down.
Amen.
Amen.
So how far out?
(15:55):
Well, you know, like we knowthis one's more or less in the can.
It is now.
I mean it's so close you cantaste it.
What about next year's?
Have you already started theplanning for next year?
Yeah, we already working onapplication because we want to open
our application, make it more broad.
(16:16):
And so we.
The only thing we've beenworking in dates and applications.
But so far we keep it in mind.
But you know, we are so busywith this one.
It's hard to leave this one onthe side and go work on the other
one.
But we know that we have to start.
We already started but not bigthing has done.
But as soon as we finish thisone, we will be happy.
(16:39):
Well, the reason I ask thatbecause you know, you have everybody
there, you have the mediaattention there.
It's always a good spot toannounce next year, you know, and
here it is.
Well, we keep, we keep doing it.
We keep doing it.
We.
As for for now we knowregistration will be open in September.
You know with the awards forthis would be June 27th.
(17:00):
But as September the.
The registration will be openfor next.
Next next.
Next edition.
Yeah.
Amen.
Amen.
Because you know, like Iworked with a music ministry.
Wow.
Way back 1998.
99.
And we did 48 concerts in 48 weeks.
In 48 different cities.
And I was always working sixweeks ahead because I was the one
(17:23):
that had to organize it all.
That was my.
My department.
So we'd be traveling toRichmond, Virginia for a concert
on Friday, followed up byMinneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday,
and fly home.
And, well, when Dr.
Johnson would fly home, Iwould be flying out Sunday morning
to Dallas, Texas, becausethat's where we are six weeks from
(17:46):
now.
And I'm out there promotingit, meeting with the churches and
doing all that stuff.
So, as I say, you're alwaysway ahead of where you're actually
at.
Yeah, tonight's the concert in Richmond.
We're here, we're doing it.
It's on.
But as soon as this thing'sdone, I've already got my marching
orders.
Far ahead.
That's why I was asking, youknow, how far away are you planning
(18:07):
next year?
You know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, next year.
We try to keep it for June.
We try to keep it for June,but as I said, we always have the
date.
The registration will be September.
An application will beavailable for everybody by September.
And that's exciting.
Yeah, yeah.
This is exciting.
And it's an ongoing process.
It will never end.
(18:29):
Never end.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, you know, although itmay be a bit late for this year,
how can churches, ministries,Christian businesses get involved
as sponsors or supporters?
And.
And what does that kind ofpartnership mean for spreading the
gospel through music?
Okay.
It's not too late.
It's not too late because it'sour first year.
(18:50):
We leave it open for anybodywho identify themselves with what
we're doing.
It can be a church, it can bea business.
We need them.
We do need them.
So we have different partnership.
We have media partnership withwhere in media.
We say, okay, we will be incharge of making promotion for your
(19:12):
awards every week.
We give you that amount ofminutes on our radio station or our
TV station will be.
And what we do ourselves, weput the logo in our flowers, put
a logo on our promotion on ourwebsite, social media.
We have them for.
For quite.
For until we finish this time around.
And if the major want to winyou, we win you.
(19:32):
And at the same time, we have business.
Also.
They are open to give economicsupport because we do need that in
order to.
To do the best we can withwhat we're doing.
They were welcome.
They just contact us and wesend a package to them.
We have different packagepackages that they can read up and
(19:54):
choose from there.
And then we can also customize.
We have customized packagedepending on what they need, what.
What their needs are.
So they are free to contact usby email or just by social media
anywhere that in, in, in anyway they want to, they are welcome
to be part of it.
And because we are there topromote Christian artists and we
(20:15):
want them to, if they want tosupport that, we are, they are welcome.
Yeah, this is so interestingand kind of like, it's kind of exciting.
Amen.
I know there's people outthere right now, they probably have
some questions about what wediscussed today about the 2025.
The 2025 Canadian Salem MusicAwards getting ready for 2026.
(20:36):
But how can they get more information?
How can someone get in touchwith you?
You go to our website, WWCanadian SILA.
Musicawards.com is SILA with SE L H.
So you, you go there, you findinformation or you can go directly
to our Instagram or Facebook.
Canadian Sila Music Awards,you can, you can send us an email
(20:58):
info@canadiansilamusicawards.com so anyway you
can, you either, you go to thewebsite and you still, you still
have more questions, go toFrequently Asked questions section.
You can have more information.
If you still have morequestion, feel free to reach out
to us by mail or social media.
We are very open and in ourwebsite there is a contact form too.
(21:19):
You just, from there, you justcontact us and we are very happy
to answer any question.
Amen.
Amen.
I'll put links all this in theshow notes below.
Praise God.
They can do that.
They can do that in Englishand Spanish and French.
We answer in any of these languages.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, folks, the 2025 Canadiansila music Awards, it's more than
(21:43):
an event.
This is a beginning of amovement honoring excellence in Christian
music.
I mean, with the support ofleaders like Dr.
Elio Alcindor, the gospel isreaching new heights.
You need to go drop down theshows, click the links right there.
VisitCanadiansalamusicawards.com to learn
more and consider supportingthis powerful kingdom effort today.
(22:05):
Amen.
Praise God.
Dr.
Lilly, I want to thank youagain for taking the time to come
on the program today andsharing all about this great event,
man, I do appreciate it so much.
Thank you so much.
Pastor Bo.
Thank you for all youraudience who have been listening
and it's a pleasure and wewelcome them to go to our website
and our social media and getmore information about what we're
(22:27):
doing here in Canada.
Amen.
Amen.
Folks, that's all the time wehave for today for Dr.
Elson, newer and myself passedby reminding you to be blessed in
all that you do.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode of the Kingdom Crossroads
Podcast.
Please subscribe to ourpodcast so you can be notified when
another episode is published.
(22:47):
With over 800 interviews and1000 published episodes, Pastor Bob
is known as a podcastingexpert for helping others to create
their own podcast to sharetheir messages with the world.
Please visit our website@www.podcastersforchrist.com.
that web address again is www.podcastersforchrist.Com.
(23:12):
for more information.
Until next time, be blessed inall that.
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