Canada Day

The band has its roots in St. John's rowdy pubs, where co-founders Sean McCann and Bob Hallett met while playing Newfoundland folk songs for boisterous crowds made up of hard-partying university students and off-duty fishermen. In 1993, after meeting fellow socio-holic and pub stalwart Alan Doyle they started Great Big Sea, in an attempt to create a new approach to Newfoundland folk music, one that combined their original music with the traditional sounds and instruments they had grown up with. In 2002 drummer Kris MacFarlane joined the band, and a year later bass player Murray Foster came aboard. Their latest album, Safe Upon The Shore, reflects the newest twists in their original plan. The album is a feast of creative impulses, recorded in fits and starts over a six month period.
A hard working approach to touring and performance, along with a genuine love for the music they perform, has kept the band growing, despite being pretty much immune to musical fashions.

Kumpa'nia is a joyous drum troupe that leaves nobody indifferent. Their original compositions mix funk, samba, and reggae influences on a big disassembled drum set. The visual impact of the dynamic choreographies and the scarlet costumes, made entirely out of recycled materials, complete the madness of their frantic rhythms.

Delhi 2 Dublin is a group of five musicians who mashup electronica with world music, keeping it heavy on the Bhangra and Celtic flavours. Fusing tabla, fiddle, dhol, electric sitar, and Punjabi and English vocals with scorching electronic beats, Delhi 2 Dublin takes listeners on a wild ride through global sounds and synchronicities.

Corb Lund is Alberta's acclaimed, JUNO award-winning alternative country star. He has been named Roots Artist of the Year by the Canadian Country Music Association for the last five years running, took home a CCMA Album of the Year award, and was nominated for a Polaris Music Prize.

Heralded as a favorite among Canada's new breed of independent musicians, Dan Mangan's travels initially took him everywhere but home, spending most of the last six years on the road. His sophomore album, Nice, Nice, Very Nice was met with well-earned accolades.

Elisapie Isaac was born of an Inuk mother and a Newfoundland father. She was adopted at birth by an Inuit family and was raised in the isolated community Salluit, Nunavik - the Great North. "There will be Stars" is her first solo recording.

Warmth, refinement, and musicality, emotion: these four words easily sum up Florence K's entire body of work. Her young, but impressive career began as a family affair: she took the "K" in her stage name from her musician father, Hany Khoriaty and she began to perform by singing backing vocals for her mom, opera singer, Nathalie Choquette.

Sam Roberts may call Montreal home, but his music occupies a less definable space: the place between studious intellect and gut reaction; between psychedelic transcendence and the cold, hard truth; between fist-pumped, hockey-lovin' hell raising and melancholic vulnerability.

Versatile and dynamic, these musicians (Geneviève Clermont, Nathalie Duchesne, Karine Lalonde and Stéphanie Collerette) take pleasure in renewing their string quartet repertoire. The quartet has also played with artists of international reputation such as Kanye West, Mika, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Barry Manilow.

Soul Influence is a pan-African a cappella ensemble established in Toronto in 2003. Performing in sets of 4-8 people, it is comprised of young Canadians from Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia whose love for music and God has produced richly layered vocal harmonies, combining the intricate beat and rhythm of the motherland with the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. 
Against a backdrop of contemporary Western Culture, Soul Influence produces a fusion of distinct African spiritual sounds in Zulu, Shona, Ndebele, Bemba, Lingala, SeTswana, Tonga, Twi, Taita Nyanja and Swahili languages. The result, a powerful vibrant sound that is pleasing to the ear and soothing to the soul.

Born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Jenn Grant embodies the naked melancholy of roots, and the shimmering effervescence of vintage AM pop. She understands the cosmic connection between Patsy Cline and Brian Wilson, and her oeuvre has elements of both polarities and everything in between.

Pierre Lapointe was born in Lac-St-Jean and grew up in Gatineau, on the Quebec side of the Outaouais region. His music has won him endless praise and countless accolades, including multiple JUNO nominations and Félix awards.

This talented young Winnipeg native has achieved so much in a short time, including playing alongside Lady Gaga and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The story of Random Recipe grew out of a friendship between singer and guitarist Frannie and beat-boxer and rapper Fab.  After jamming and freestyling in the streets, Random Recipe became an official act.  This Montreal based band easily flirts with folk, hip-hop, bossa-nova, electro, tri-hop, lullaby, jazz, kazoo and much more while never losing their way.

Originating from Gao, Mali, Oumou Soumaré now calls Moncton, NB, home. Oumou gets her inspiration in the tradition of her country and everyday living. With an enlightening voice, Oumou sings of peace, love, women's condition and social cohesion.

Founded in Montreal in 2002, Les 7 doigts de la main's initial goal was to bring circus to a human scale. Eight years later, shows Loft, Traces and La Vie continue to tour the world, Psy embarks on its own adventures, and new projects are constantly in the making back home in Montreal. Les 7 Doigts de la Main apply their unique brand of hands-on creativity to all their ventures.

Collectif de folklore urbain is a professionnal percussive dance company, based in Montreal and performing on the national and international scene since 2001.

[ZØGMA] supports the creativity of artists who - inspired by elements of heritage and cultural diversity found in urban areas - propose a contemporary approach and a new aesthetic of Québec's folklore, merging dance, music, and song into powerful, rhythmic works.

[ZØGMA] actually has three productions to its credit: Chantier (2002), Hypertension (2005), Rapaillé (2008), as well as the youth audience production Zó (2005).  The company is presently working on two new productions that will be touring in 2011.