Album review

Sarah Hansen – Gather Up Your Days

Many of us know that St. John’s, NL, is the place to go if you want to spend every night of the week in a pub, listening to live music. I’ve done that with friends, but we found a dearth ...
Feature

André Brunet marks 5 years with Le Vent du Nord

It’s been five years since Québec’s stunningly talented and charismatic fiddler, André Brunet, joined the lighthouse band Le Vent Du Nord, so we thought it would be a good time to chat and reflect on his life in music so ...
Feature

Celebrating 20 years of Le Vent du Nord

It’s been a pretty momentous year for Le Vent Du Nord. The 20th anniversary of the band’s founding has been marked not only by a rousing return to touring the world following the two years of Covid-19 lockdowns, but also ...
Feature

A photo tour of Summerfolk 2022

Summerfolk unfolded in Owen Sound from Aug. 19-21, the first time in three years it’s followed its traditional format down at Kelso Beach at Nawash Park.  Elizbeth Szekeres was there and brings us this photo tour if the event.  Irish ...
Album review

Dâvi Simard – Violoneux

Multi-instrumentalist Dâvi Simard is one of the most magnetic musicians I have ever seen. I simply cannot keep my eyes off him when he performs, he has such virtuosity, energy and vivacity, and every bit of that charisma is heard ...
Album review

Madison Violet – Eleven

What do you do when you see an advertisement for an old Airstream trailer that comes complete with a recording studio? You immediately jump into your car, cheque in hand, to follow your dream. This is the story that Brenley ...
Feature

Dispatches from Festival Mémoire et Racines day three (Sunday) night

The Sunday evening Gilles Cantin main stage’s first performers were Emerald Rae and Jean-François Gagnon-Branchaud. They did a nice set of songs and tunes from Lanaudière region. Next was a tweener: La Foulée stepdancers with André Brunet fiddling up a ...
Feature

Dispatches from Festival Mémoire et Racines day three (Sunday) daytime

Sunday’s daytime concerts began late morning and carried on until supper time. At the wind instruments workshop, we saw Benoit Fortin and Daniel Roy on wooden whistles. Jeremiah McDade played his own compositions on Irish flute and low whistle, with ...
Feature

Dispatches from Festival Mémoire et Racines day two (Saturday) night

The Gilles Cantin Main Stage Saturday evening had stellar performances from four amazing bands. Kongero is a quartet of beautiful women from Sweden who sing a cappella. No instruments are required when you have voices like angels. These lovely ladies ...
Feature

Dispatches from Festival Mémoire et Racines day two (Saturday) daytime

Saturday afternoon at Mémoire et Racines saw a variety of performances and workshops on various stages. Éric Beaudry’s students at the CJEP college folk music school in Joliette put on a lovely show to start the day. They played a ...