Spotlight Québec Showcase @ FMO 2014
Folquébec will be at Folk Music Ontario and will present its ‘Spotlight Quebec’ showcase featuring artists from Quebec
12:00-12:20 : HeavySoundz
Solidly anchored in a merry multicultural melange, the members of Montreal collective Heavy Soundz kick it with crazy rhythms that get any started. What do these 5 musicians and 5 MCs from Québec, Haiti and Latin America have in store for us ? A caliente whirlwind of Latin urban music spiced with reggae, and hip hop, as heard on their latest album, Tumba Parlantes, a sound that gets everyone in the room moving, grooving and sweating…
Web Site: http://www.heavysoundz.com/
12:30-12:50 : The Bombadils
The Bombadils are a four piece folk ensemble that unite an eclectic variety of influences to present a unique interpretation of traditional music. Though the group first connected in Montreal, QC, at McGill University over a shared curiosity surrounding the Celtic and bluegrass traditions, fiddler Sarah Frank, guitarist Luke Fraser, bassist Alan Mackie, and flautist Anh Phung were raised Canada-wide and trained in classical performance and modern improvisation. Endearingly described by those closest to them as “cinematic folk”, The Bombadils have been bringing music and high spirits to the concert halls and Irish pubs of the world since 2009, allowing diverse influences to flow naturally through their compositions, arrangements, and improvisations, all the while bridging cultural and linguistic forms.
Web Site: http://thebombadils.com/
13:00-13:20 : Notre Dame de Grass
Notre Dame de Grass is a five-piece Canadian bluegrass band specializing in original songs and instrumental material. While staying true to the conservative sensibilities of bluegrass music, Notre Dame de Grass draws from the deep well of North American folk tradition to inform their work.
Web Site: http://www.notredamedegrass.com/
13:30-13:50 : Réveillons!
Réveillons! (Wake up!) is a wellknown quartet involving crowd with arrangements simmered in the authentic Quebec’s culture, a resolutely urban, assumed and scouring traditional music, with its rush hours and its traffic jam, its terrace and its barbecue. Music made in Quebec, traditionnal with a crude energy.
Web Site: http://www.reveillons.qc.ca/
Spotlite Quebec Acoustic Showcases
Folquébec will also present two acoustic showcases on Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18 in Room 357
Friday Oct 17 – Room 357
11:00 PM Street Meat
11:30 PM Melisande [ Électrotrad]
12:00 AM Sin and Swoon *
12:30 AM L’il Andy
1:00 AM Durham County Poets
1:30 AM Sergiu Popa/ Duo Shatra
2:00 AM Jam Trad
SaturdayOct 18 Room 357
11:00 PM Corinna Rose
11:20 PM Mamselle Ruiz*
11:40 PM Echo Hunters acoustic
12:00 AM Sin and Swoon*
12:20 AM Rob Lutes
12:40 AM Sarah Jane Scouten
1:00 AM Chris MacLean
1:20 AM Mehdi Hamdad
1:40 AM Mamselle Ruiz*
2:00 AM Jam Tard
*Official Showcase
Street Meat
The band started on the street as part of Montreal’s vibrant community of buskers. Jean-Philippe Lelotte-Demers, Paul Dawson and Lucas Choi Zimbel casually taught each other their respective repertoire of originals and covers varying from Old Time to Jazz to Punk with every possible flavor in between. They quickly moved on to bars and concert halls as mesmerized pedestrians began offering them gigs in all sorts of strange and exotic locations.
Web Site: http://streetmeatband.com/
Melisande [ Électrotrad]
Drawing from the rich heritage of traditional French-Canadian songs, Mélisande discovered jewels that she presents with a feminist twist and the resolutely modern sound of her band. Comprised of Mélisande (Mémoire Vive, Colette), Robin Boulianne (Yves Lambert, MAZ), Mark Busic (renowned producer and sound engineer) and Alexandre de Grosbois-Garand (Genticorum, Perdu l’Nord) the group offers a fresh artistic proposition to the folk-world-trad music scene. The arrangements integrate elements of trad, funk, progressive rock and electropop to create an original sound. Often groovy, sometimes atmospheric, the songs convey the audience to a journey through time and space to discover timeless realities of women’s life.
Web Site: http://www.melisandemusic.com/
The Sin and The Swoon
»Sin and Swoon » are Montreal musicians Michael James O’Brien and Michelle Tompkins. The music they play plays tribute to the sounds of old time country music and harmony singing of the Louvin Brothers and the Everly Brothers, along with occasional nod to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Their debut record coming this fall !
Web Site: http://www.sinandswoon.com/
L’il Andy
Lil’ Andy is Montreal’s finest cowboy. His roots-n-bluegrass is so authentic, so honest that you’ll leave his show with a yearnin’ for wide open skies and a hankerin’ for a lost love. Bluegrass doesn’t get more real than this. Li’l Andy is Montreal’s pre-eminent country gentleman, known for his bitingly witty songwriting and dark gospel sound. His latest album, While the Engines Burn (produced by Plants & Animals frontman Warren C. Spicer), came out to great critical acclaim in February 2014.
Web Site: http://www.lilandy.net/
Durham County Poets
The Durham County Poets are five guys from the Chateauguay Valley who have played and do play in blues bands, gospel groups, Cajun, vaudeville, folk, rock and even yes dare I say, country bands. In listening to their own material you get a mix of sounds and stories, influences and genres that is uniquely their own. Some of their songs had been lying dormant for over a decade, others are newborn. A collective blend of styles from Dan Hicks to James Taylor, the Band to Leon Redbone, there’s is a melting pot full of inspired tunes to enjoy.
Web Site: http://www.durhamcountypoets.com/
Shatra Duo
Jessica Gal (violin) and Sergiu Popa (accordion) are a husband-and-wife team who have been playing together professionally since 2004. Both classically trained and adept at playing by ear, they offer a vast repertoire of music for all occasions, including international ‘café’ repertoire. Jessica and Sergiu are available for private parties, house concerts, weddings, cocktails, vernissages or corporate events.
Web Site: http://www.sergiupopa.com/en/duo.html
Corinna Rose
Banjo wielding folk-rock troubadour Corinna Rose will make your heart flutter and use its beat to start a hoedown. Her debut album “Northeast Southwest” captures the warmth, joy and darkness of the tradition, yet pushes the boundaries of the genre using crooked rhythms and jazz chords. Grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2013, Rose has performed over 200 shows across Canada.
Web Site: http://www.corinnarose.com
Mamselle Ruiz
Mamselle Ruiz is a powerful presence, blending genuine grace with an incredible energy! Named 2013-14 Radio-Canada World Music Revelation, she draws on jazz, the Mexican folk music of her youth, and Latin-American rhythms. We can’t wait to hear the songs of her new albumMiel de cactus, presenting her introspective lyrics in a caliente ambience!
Web Site: http://www.mamselleruiz.com/
The Echo Hunters
Their music is at once familiar, yet new, with favorite influences from the last few decades blenched into contemporary folk-rock with a taste of country, blues and pop in the mix. »A brilliant Canadian indie-folk group who mix gothic, Americana (ok Canadiana) with a seventies Laurel Canyon Vibe » -The Independant (London)
Web Site: http://echohunters.ca/
Rob Lutes
Montreal-based singer-songwriter Rob Lutes is widely known for his exquisite songwriting, fingerstyle mastery and soulful vocals. His sixth album, The Bravest Birds, went to #1 on the EuroAmericana Chart in February 2013. In 2014, he co-founded the musical collective Sussex with renowned multi-instrumentalist Michael Emenau. The group will release its debut album in winter 2015.
Web Site: www.roblutes.com
Sarah Jane Scouten
On Bowen Island BC, Sarah Jane Scouten tagged along to folk music jams from an early age. Growing up in a hometown teaming with folk musicians led to many meaningful encounters all over North America, learning first-hand from her influences at jams, workshops and house concerts. Sarah has an insatiable appetite for music with a past, namely folk music of all kinds, and seeks it out wherever she goes. It’s no wonder she came to draw on traditional American music styles, paired with frank and evocative lyrics, to create her distinct brand of song-writing.
Web Site: http://www.sarahjanescouten.com/
Chris Maclean
Chris MacLean is an award winning songwriter living in the hills of West Quebec. Inspired by the spirit of a rugged landscape – granite, sky, water, fields, cliffs, snow – and the landscape of the interior, Chris MacLean writes with a need for kindness and caution in a mad world. She writes to quiet the thundering wheels of change, to soothe the ache of struggle and to simply make meaning out of chaos.
Web Site: http://www.chrismaclean.com/
Medhi Hamdad
Mehdi Cayenne Club is bilingual couscous punk. Kaleidoscopic songwriter fare with a strange, raw edge. Generally it’s a trio, otherwise it’s just Mehdi’s multiple personalities. Intensity, contrast and enthusiasm have become hallmarks. Having released the albums “Luminata” in 2011 and “NA NA BOO BOO” in 2013, MCC just can’t stop!
Web Site: http://www.mehdicayenneclub.com/
