Recently named one of 24 grand prize winners in the international John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Sudbury musician Louis Simão needs your help to advance further in the competition.
Started by Yoko Ono Lennon in memory of her late husband, John Lennon of The Beatles fame, the contest began in 1997 to give songwriters an opportunity to express themselves, gain recognition and get their music heard.
Simão has been cited in the contest’s world music category for his song Oração. (You can listen to the song through the songwriting contest’s website).
A vote will be held on the contest’s website from April 1-30 to whittle this year’s contest down to 12 final contenders (who will be named Lennon Award Winners), and from there, the Song of the Year will be chosen, which comes with a $20,000 cash prize.
For the guitar geeks out there, as one of the grand prize winners in the contest, Simão has won a new guitar (specifically a Taylor AD17e Blacktop acoustic-electric guitar), as well as a variety of other musical equipment and services.
Simão said the prizes are nice, but like many musicians, he enters his work in a variety of awards programs as a way of adding to his resume and letting more people in the industry know his name, in hopes of gaining more performing opportunities.
He’s previously earned recognition as the 2017 Song of the Year recipient at the International Portuguese Music Awards and was named World Solo Artist of the Year at the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Awards for his debut solo album, A Luz (The Light).
Born in Canada to Portuguese parents, and moving to Sudbury in 2021, Simão said his song Oração, which means “prayer,” is sung in Portuguese.
“It's just a way of, you know, giving thanks and paying it forward, and being grateful for what we have in life and and also being empathetic to those who are less fortunate,” he said. “So that's what it sort of encapsulates in a nutshell.”
While under his name, Simão said the song has a couple of different co-writers. It was originally released on an album he put out around 20 years ago with a saxophonist named David French.
He then decided to re-record and reimagine the song for an album he put out last year with Brazilian guitarist Carlos Bernardo called From the Valley to the Mountain, Vol. 1 (they’re putting out the second volume this year).
Bernardo “contributed a new section to the song, so it's actually a three way co-write,” said Simão.
Entered in the world music category, which Simão said basically encapsulates any song not sung in English, he said he actually has a strong background as a jazz musician, or it could be classified as Latin music.
Simão is a busy guy. Besides recording his own music, he’s also the festival co-ordinator for the upcoming Sudbury Music Festival, which runs April 2-11 this year. He’s looking forward to seeing all of the city’s young talent on display.
He also teaches music lessons in his home, and accompanies other musicians in their bands. Right after the Sudbury Music Festival wraps up, he will be accompanying South Asian musician Kiran Ahluwalia of Toronto on her tour of British Columbia.
“I've been fortunate to work with a lot of great people,” Simão said.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.