LONDON (CP) -- Canadian folksingers made an impressive showing in an international pop musical poll compiled by Melody Maker, Britain's leading pop newspaper.

Toronto's Neil Young, 26, was voted by British pop enthusiasts best male solo singer and top composer of the year. Young's latest long-playing record also took first place in the album section of the poll.

Leonard Cohen, 35-year-old poet and folksinger from Montreal, was sixth in the male singer chart and fifth in the composer poll.

In the girl section, Toronto's Joni Mitchell, 27, took first place, her second consecutive succes in the yearly poll.

Bob Dylan's backing musicians, The Band, a four-man Canadian group, was also voted seventh in group division.

Melody Maker editor Michael Wallis said the successes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Yound in the 1971 poll "confirm the impression that the musical balance in the seventies has swung towards the artist practicing autonomy."