The definition of a rebel is someone who goes against the grain. For close to thirty years now, Blue Rodeo has taken the road less traveled - and succeeded far beyond anyone’s expectations. The band emerged in the early 80’s as a countrified rock band in the era of hair metal and glossy pop. Despite sticking out like a sore thumb (or maybe because of it), their single “Try” became omni-present on radio across Canada and set in motion a three decade long career of headlining every club, theatre and arena in Canada. In 1993, when grunge rock was squeezing commercial rock off the radio, they recorded their most acoustic album, Five Days In July, and scored their biggest hit selling over a half million copies of that one record alone. And now, in the digital age, while everyone else is thinking of ways to sell single songs through the internet or snippets of songs on cell phones, Blue Rodeo has recorded The Things We Left Behind, a double album designed to be enjoyed on vinyl. Twelve albums on, the rebels live.
Buffy Sainte-Marie released her 18th album, 'Running for the Drum', in North America and throughout Europe, in 2009, to critical acclaim. Adding to an already expansive list of accolades and awards, Buffy Sainte-Marie won her second Juno Award for Aboriginal Album, Aboriginal’s People Choice Music Award (APCMA) for Best Folk Album, as well as became the 25th inductee into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and the first person to receive the APCMA’s Lifetime Achievement award. Celebrated for her tremendous diversity in song-writing styles, 'Running for the Drum' is a whip-lash collection of power and beauty: folk/roots, powwow-rock, rockabilly and dance.
In the Spring of 2007 Rough Trade Records released the debut album from Basia Bulat. Entitled Oh, My Darling, the album generated a groundswell of support from both the press and fans alike. NPR called
the first single “In The Night” “one of 2008’s great singles” and Spin.com said, ““Oh, My Darling's lucky thirteen tracks showcase Bulat's soothing, throaty voice and her dead-on aptitude for poignant, classic songwriting. From gracefully sad to hopeful and joyous, she exudes an earthy, organic quality to the music's mystic, Phil Spector-like backbone.” Basia went from playing small venues to packed out shows across the US and her home country Canada where the album garnered a Polaris Music Prize short list nod. Baisa Bulat commands the room with her raucously arranged songs, infectious melodies, and a voice that is both exuberant and intimate.
Fans and critics all agree: Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is an up-and-coming musical force to be reckoned with. Since his modest first show at a tiny folk club in 2005 to the heights of Virginfest 2008, MBF is about to outgrow his hometown of Calgary. At a time when the music industry is predominantly concerned with marketing generic bad boys and anti-heroes, MBF breaks from the pack with a refreshingly earnest and optimistic sound. It’s won him a local following which stands strong against any other Calgary act, and in addition to hometown fans, he’s also gaining interest across the country.
Signed to Six Shooter Records, Justin Rutledge’s albums garner impressive amounts of critical acclaim. Between his debut, No Never Alone (2005), his sophomore release, The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park (2006) and third album, Man Descending (2008), Rutledge has earned a Juno nomination, a Galaxy Rising Star award, countless year-end critics’ picks, the title of Toronto’s Best Local Songwriter (NOW Magazine), a spot on the 2008 Polaris Prize Long List and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination. Rutledge’s
fourth album, The Early Widows, is an arrestingly moving and lyrically
meticulous piece of art penned by one of the most progressive songwriters at work today.
The Dudes, a Calgary based band, infuse an emotional blend of of Al Green and Flaming Lips - soul music and early 1990's distortion. Dan Vacon, singer-songwriter for The Dudes since their start in the late 90's, has the ability to draw audiences in through his distinct vocal style - a mixture of strong pop melody, sly double entendrees, and pure soul.
The Dudes are
Dan Vacon - vocals/guitar
Brady Kirchner - bass/vocals
Bob Quaschnick - guitar/vocals
Scott Ross - drums/vocals
Grant Lawrence has long been a leading voice for Canadian arts and entertainment.
For years, the gregarious and encyclopedic Lawrence has hosted the CBC Radio 3 Podcast with Grant Lawrence, a weekly showcase of Canadian independent music. Grant also hosts Grant Lawrence Live, a live and interactive daily program on CBC Radio 3’s popular web radio station, also airing on Sirius 86. Grant can be heard throughout the week on various CBC Radio One programs such as DNTO, Spark, All Points West, and various afternoon programs across the country, and has been a frequent past contributor to Q and Sounds Like Canada. Grant also hosts many major music events, such as the Polaris Music Prize Gala, and various festivals around North America, and conducts music industry seminars and keynote addresses on music and media related topics
Musician/Composer/Producer, Gurpreet Chana, is one of Canada's most diverse and sought after musicians. His passion for percussion and extensive tabla training has given him the ability to create amazing beats and melodies fit for any musical style.
The Alberta based singer with the black hat and easygoing personality is a captivating and crowd pleasing performer who easily draws listeners into the settings of his storytelling country and roots music. He was nominated for “Songwriter of the Year” at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2008. Tim's distinctive songwriting and spirited performances by the members of his dynamic band stand as a cornerstone of authentic Canadiana!
Ted Wesley is a singer/song-writer who has lived in and loved the North for over 40 years and is a tribute to the land and it's people, resonating in the hearts all those proud to call themselves Northerners.
YK Transfer returns to the Folk on the Rocks stage in 2010! This energetic group is made up of some of Yellowknife’s best vocalists. Individually, they have wowed audiences in Edmonton, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Quebec City, and of course here in Yellowknife. Together, they’re a powerhouse of musical talent and personality that is sure to entertain and impress.
Three forces of nature meet in 'bop ensemble', a Canadian super-group featuring folk legends Bill Bourne and Wyckham Porteous, along with up-and-coming singer-bassist Jasmine “Jas” Ohlhauser. Combining Bourne’s grit, Porteous’ warmth, and Jas’ energetic devilry, the three manage to catch lightning in a bottle.
From the tragic to the triumphant to the tongue-in-cheek, no other folk group tells northern tales quite like The Gumboots. What Stan Rogers is to the east coast and Connie Kaldor to the prairies, so are The Gumboots to the Canadian north.
Based in Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, The Gumboots perform and record original folk music documenting northern history and the individuals who formed it.
Songwriter and composer Pat Buckna arrived in the North one week after the first Folk on The Rocks festival in 1980. He performed at the ‘81, ‘82 and ‘83 festivals. In Fort Smith in 1982 Pat founded Jamadam Records, the first northern-based record label. Pat joined the festival board and was Artistic Director for the 1984 festival. That same year, he and poet Jim Green were the first northern performers to headline a show at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre and two year’s later Pat was responsible for bringing over 750 northern artists and performers to Vancouver for Expo ‘86.
As a solo artist, Pat Braden is considered a creative voice, influenced by his life and experience growing up as a musician in Canada’s North. His musical performances and productions have been described as a journey through northern landscapes and northern realities. Seamlessly blending spoken word and song while spinning textural Chapman Stick or walking his funky Fender Bass, Braden creates a collage of entertaining and insightful vignettes with audiences equally drawn to his compelling stories as they are to the sonic soundscapes he creates.
Jim Green, the sometime Mayor of Dog River, is a poet, writer, broadcaster and storyteller. For the past 40 years he’s lived in the Northwest Territories, acquiring a strong hankering for pickerel on a stick and Dora Beaulieu’s low bush cranberry muffins.
Jim’s repertoire of stories, songs, poems and observations of the human condition will bring a little comfort and joy into your life. He’ll soothe your soul with his irresistible, irrepressible, infectious sense of humor and his homespun honesty. His performances have been called entertaining, provocative and just a tad outrageous. He’s performed his own material in every province and territory of the country.
Born and raised in Yellowknife Northwest Territories, Jay Gilday is quickly becoming one of the great examples of powerful music that has always flowed like an ice cold river out of the great North. With a strong voice given to him by his family, Gilday writes folk music for the generations past and future, always with a strong eye on the morals of man and the world we have created for ourselves.
Celina is a multi-talented visual and performing artist from Qausuittuq. She has performed nationally and internationally as a throat singer and she continues to explore the experiences of her culture through her visual art.
A captivating Dene singer/songwriter, Leela Gilday is a passionate, soulful performer who takes listeners on a journey through a musical world where freedom and joy balance sorrow and injustice. Her lyrics, reflective of her northern roots, embrace the essence of Dene life from an urban perspective. She hails from Yellowknife, NWT and is a member of the Dene nation. She has many national awards to her credit including a Juno and Western Canada Music Award for her second album Sedzé. Leela Gilday has just released her much anticipated third CD entitled "Calling All Warriors" in 2010. She performs at Folk on the Rocks with her beloved band.
Digawolf is originally from the Tlicho community of Behchoko (Rae-Edzo), Northwest Territories.
Digawolf is a passionate guitarist (electric and acoustic) who plays and sings with great respect for the land, the Tlicho culture and the elders. Digawolf’s music is dynamic, ethereal and very emotional. Digawolf draws his inspiration from the earth and the conflicts that arise from the evolution of his native culture, and his place in that evolution. Digawolf’s music is refreshingly honest, seeking truth. Every song is an explosion of imagery that takes you on a ride across the Northern landscapes and into the hearts of the people that live there.
Chinatown delivers a whimsical blend of music at once evocative and accessible, drifting between catchy melodies such as Pénélope, Secousses, La vrille and more orchestral pieces like Flash de paranoïa, Bateau de querelle, and Du jazz avec l’apocalypse. These make up the Cité d 'or universe, evoking the idea of a perfect world, vast, opulent cities, wealth, fantasies, and
unrequited dreams. The musical range spreads from romantic pop (Carrousel), to a Tarantinostyle « spaghetti western » (Perdre son temps), heartbreaking ballads (L’automne), to pop tracks with a serious groove (Apprendre à danser), the first radio single with an impressive
presence on the charts. While Pierre-Alain Faucon and Félix Dyotte are certainly the two pioneers and main authors here, each track bears the distinctive inflections and colors of each musician, which results in a genuine original sound, the pure poetry and the varied and cinematic universe of Chinatown.
As a bilingual children’s performer and educator from Vancouver, Will Stroet knows how to make kids laugh, dance and sing. From blues to rock to pop-inspired tunes about animals, the environment, active living and sportsmanship, Will’s high-energy and interactive music in English and French appeals to boys and girls of all ages.
Attima is an Inuit drum dancer who lives with his family in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Miriam is his partner, from Gjoa Haven, and sings the ayaya songs of old. Representing all three decades of Folk on the Rocks, Attima has been actively drumming since his early teen years and attributes his ability to his teachers, Hadlari, (his father) and Quaquqtuuq. Attima drums in the Natttilingmiut style accompanied by one or more chant singers. Over the years he has performed with his drum to audiences across the world, often explaining the significance and traditional uses of the chants and the dance. Other times Attima demonstrates such traditional skills as the use of the seal skin whip or Inuit games.
Wesley A. Hardisty is one to watch! Wesley, now sixteen, took up the fiddle just three years ago in his hometown of Fort Simpson. His extraordinary musical talent has taken him all over Canada. He‘s proud to have performed at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver as part of the Northwest Territories cultural delegation and as part of Daniel Lapp’s All Star Fiddle Orchestra.
His passion is Northern, Métis and West Coast fiddle music. Wesley is now attending the Gulf Islands School for Performing Arts on Saltspring Island BC. Wesley loves performing music for the sheer joy of it!
It took seven years for the members of Erebus & Terror to join forces, but it's been worth the wait. After playing in various combinations together over the years, Steve, Dave, Brendan, Travis, and Walter have used this experience to their advantage and formed one of the tightest young bands in the North. The driving rhythm section, melodic keyboards/lead guitar, and singing/songwriting inspired by life in the North has made for a lot of fun jams and an exciting live show. These boys have consistently been a fan favorite in the Yellowknife music scene and cannot wait to share the fruits of their labor, the music of Erebus & Terror, with whoever will lend an ear.
Colin was born and raised in the small Nunavut community of Kugluktuk. With the help of his uncles, Colin developed a passion for music and began fiddling when he was 9 years old. He trained himself by ear, listening to Saturday Night Hoe Down on the radio. Colin doesn't read music, but learns new melodies just by listening to them. He once said in an interview that he was born 'with music in his head'.
Colin has been playing his fiddle for almost 50 years and has released three albums. Besides making the strings of his fiddle sing, he is comfortable with guitar, piano, banjo, accordian, and mandolin. He interprets old favourites and his own compositions with the same seamless skill - and it's not long before the dance floor fills up. As the "Fiddler of the Arctic", Colin has played in communities all over the North.
Since the early rough Dojo Workhorse demos, Dan Vacon has delivered sweet R&B and soul, with a rugged twist that feels like a blue-eyed Sam Cooke fronting a gloriously sloppy version of The Band, set to a precious low-fi backing track. “Weapons Grade Romantic” brings together the best of Vacon’s demoed material and with the help of Juno award winning producer Russel Broom (Jann Arden) delivers an album that maintains the haphazard charm of the early home recordings, while adding a more universally accessible sheen. Far more affecting than just a “Dudes side project”, with string sections, horns, and some of Vacon’s favorite Canadian musicians filling out the sound of this unique album… Its balance of rough edgy heart with palatable sounds of soul and acoustic pop is undeniable.
William Greenland , the Director of Radio for CKLB-FM has been a familiar voice on the only Aboriginal Radio Station in the NWT since he first began in 1983. Also a singer/song writer, William has hosted many festivals across the north, and is no stranger to Folk on the Rocks, where he has been the Emcee at 2 prior festivals. William is a member of the Nitat Gwichin of Inuvik where he grew up.
Lucie lived much of her early life in the High Arctic on North Baffin Island, Northwest Territories as it was known at the time, now Nunavut. Of Inuit heritage, Lucie has obvious ties to the culture of the north and the struggles that come with its unique geography. Her passion as a songwriter and artist stretches far beyond the treeline, having also lived in several southern Canadian cities. In recent years, she splits her time between Toronto and Iqaluit, Nunavut.
‘Indescribable’ is not an appropriate word to begin an artist’s bio, nor is it suitable as a description of a musician. The problem is this: when Tanya Tagaqs’ music fills your ears, she is genuinely one of those rare artists whose sounds and styles are truly groundbreaking. ‘Inuit throat singer’ is one part of her sonic quotient. So are descriptions like ‘orchestral’ ‘hip-hop-infused’ and ‘primal’…but these words are not usually used collectively. In the case of Tagaq, however – they are.
Realising that artistic expression cannot be contained by terminology, the Borderless Art Movement! was conceived during a cold dark winter in Yellowknife, following an experimental performance of Peter and the Wolf (a collaboration between visual artists and Classics On Stage Yellowknife in January 2010). BAM! includes performers from a variety of artistic and musical backgrounds and presents a fresh take on storytelling through a unique combination of narration, musical themes and visual representation. Using a semi-improvisational approach, the dynamic and ever-changing combination of performers creates a different experience for every audience. BAM! welcomes everyone to come and join the Movement!
The Dehcho Drummers are a group of traditional drummers who are representative of the Dehcho Dene Region of the Northwest Territories (Southwest corner). There are many drummers in the ten communities, and drum dances can sometimes host up to 35+ drummers at cultural gatrherings. Seven drummers will be performing at Folk on the Rocks.
The Dehcho Drummmers have travelled across the north to share the spirit of the Dene drum with many audiences. Previous performances include Folk on The Rocks 2001, The Great Northerm Arts Festival 2002, the Arctic Winter Games, various northern cultural gatherings and beyond the NWT borders, Albert, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory.
The tradition of Drumming has been handed down from our Dene forefathers, who were the traditional song keepers of this subarctic land. During the performance, the audience is invited to share in the opening and closing prayer, as well as encouraged to participate in the various drum dance songs to join as one, in a large circle. Expression of thanks through dance is part of the celebration; everyone is welcome to partake in this ceremony of life.
Born and raised in Yellowknife, NT, Aaron "Godson" Hernandez released 2 albums with former group "Unonymus Inc." & 2 with former group "Liquid Eyez".
Godson pursued a solo career & recorded 4 more albums up to 2006. In 2003 Godson won the CBC North Slam Poet competition and placed 8th in all of Canada. In 2004, he recorded and filmed a commercial for the GNWT Department Of Transportation for Drinking and Driving Prevention with a new one recorded in 2009. The commercial airs regularily on CBC & APTN. He’s opened for the likes of Sean Kingston, Girlicious, Great Big Sea and again for Charlie Major. 2006 opened up with a try out for Canadian Idol when it stopped in Yellowknife and advanced to the Vancouver celebrity judges audition. Godson received the opportunity to write a song for the hit show & what came next? THE VIDEO!!! Godson then went on to perform at the 25th anniversary True North CBC concert and in March 2007 went on national TV again to perform in the opening ceremonies of the 2007 Canada Winter Games live on CBC television. Godson placed 2nd in all of Canada for the "Bootlegger Generation B" competition where youths across Canada who had high achievements competed for the top spot. Godson recently shot his first video for "Like This / It’s Over" featuring J-Roc of the Trailer Park Boys. 2009 also kicked off with one of Godson’s songs "Raise Up appearing on episode 5 of the TV Drama "The Border". His 9th album is set for release Folk on the Rocks weekend.
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