Dunlevy: What's Montreal's best summer music festival?
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That last question is often redundant in a city where you can do a whole lotta festing for free. Which brings us to our first contender, the heavyweight champion, which built its name, reputation and world-famous appeal on its free shows: the Montreal International Jazz Festival, where you can walk the site on any given night and take in a globe-trotting array of music without spending a dime, or, if you're feeling festive, for the price of a beer and a mango on a stick. Fresh off its 45th edition, the jazz fest is hard to beat for the variety of music, the people-watching and its imprint on our city.
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Prior to the jazz fest is, of course, the French-language music fête Les Francos de Montréal, and the avant-garde offerings of Suoni Per Il Popolo, put on by the good folks at Casa del Popolo and La Sala Rossa.
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Hot on the heels of the jazz festival is the not-so-hidden gem Nuits d'Afrique. The annual celebration of African and Latin American sounds recently marked 39 years of body-moving rhythms. Nuits d'Afrique has grown in stature since it began setting up shop in the Quartier des spectacles, in part of the same state-of-the-art site as the jazz fest, which makes Montreal the envy of cities everywhere.
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The Gazette team is still coming down from the epic 18th edition of Osheaga, which attracted 142,000 young music fans over three days to see headliners The Killers, Tyler, the Creator and Olivia Rodrigo, plus some 85 other acts — including show-stealing Tampa rapper Doechii — at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Osheaga director Nick Farkas can't say enough about the festival site on Île Ste-Hélène, just a short métro ride from downtown. He calls it the best festival setting in North America — better than Coachella and Bonnaroo, to name just two.
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Osheaga promoter Evenko makes the most of the location. It just hosted the 10th edition of DJ and dance-music marathon ÎleSoniq there; and this coming weekend, it's boots and saddles time as the country-music hoedown Lasso ropes in headliners Bailey Zimmerman and Jelly Roll, as well as Friday favourites Shaboozey (who also played Osheaga) and Sheryl Crow. Yeehaw!
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There's a festival for everyone in Montreal. It's like a riff on the old Oprah car giveaway joke — you get a festival, and you get a festival …
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And while I love them all, next week marks the start of one of my under-the-radar faves. Mutek, Montreal's festival of electronic music and digital art, is as hip, cool and cultured as anything our city has to offer. The cutting-edge event has received a boost from presenting free outdoor DJ sets around the Quartier des spectacles in recent years. But the buzz has reached another level since it settled its outdoor activities at the Esplanade Tranquille.
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Winnipeg Free Press
10 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
With the Bayeux Tapestry that tells of their long rivalry, France and Britain are making nice
BAYEUX, France (AP) — For centuries, the storytelling masterpiece has been a source of wonder and fascination. In vivid and gruesome detail, the 70-meter (230-foot) embroidered cloth recounts how a fierce duke from France conquered England in 1066, reshaping British and European history. The Bayeux Tapestry, with its scenes of sword-wielding knights in ferocious combat and King Harold of England's famous death, pierced by an arrow to an eye, has since the 11th century served as a sobering parable of military might, vengeance, betrayal and the complexity of Anglo-French relations, long seeped with blood and rivalry but also affection and cooperation. Now, the medieval forerunner of today's comic strips, commissioned as propaganda for the Normandy duke William known as 'the Conqueror' after he took the English throne from Harold, is being readied for a new narrative mission. A homecoming for the tapestry Next year, the fragile artistic and historic treasure will be gingerly transported from its museum in Bayeux, Normandy, to star in a blockbuster exhibition in London's British Museum, from September 2026 to July 2027. Its first U.K. outing in almost 1,000 years will testify to the warming latest chapter in ties across the English Channel that chilled with the U.K.'s acrimonous departure from the European Union in 2020. The loan was announced in July when French President Emmanuel Macron became the first EU head of state to pay a state visit to the U.K. since Brexit. Bayeux Museum curator Antoine Verney says the cross-Channel trip will be a home-coming of sorts for the tapestry, because historians widely believe that it was embroidered in England, using woolen threads on linen canvas, and because William's victory at the Battle of Hastings was such a major juncture in English history, seared into the U.K.'s collective consciousness. 'For the British, the date — the only date — that all of them know is 1066,' Verney said in an interview with The Associated Press. A trip not without risks Moving an artwork so unwieldy — made from nine pieces of linen fabric stitched together and showing 626 characters, 37 buildings, 41 ships and 202 horses and mules in a total of 58 scenes — is further complicated by its great age and the wear-and-tear of time. 'There is always a risk. The goal is for those risks to be as carefully calculated as possible,' said Verney, the curator. Believed to have been commissioned by Bishop Odo, William the Conqueror's half-brother, to decorate a new cathedral in Bayeux in 1077, the treasure is thought to have remained there, mostly stored in a wooden chest and almost unknown, for seven centuries, surviving the French Revolution, fires and other perils. Since then, only twice is the embroidery known to have been exhibited outside of the Normandy city: Napoleon Bonaparte had it shown off in Paris' Louvre Museum from late 1803 to early 1804. During World War II, it was displayed again in the Louvre in late 1944, after Allied forces that had landed in Normandy on D-Day, June 6th, of that year had fought onward to Paris and liberated it. The work, seen by more than 15 million visitors in its Bayeux museum since 1983, 'has the unique characteristic of being both monumental and very fragile,' Verney said. 'The textile fibers are 900 years old. So they have naturally degraded simply due to age. But at the same time, this is a work that has already traveled extensively and been handled a great deal.' A renovated museum During the treasure's stay in the U.K., its museum in Bayeux will be getting a major facelift costing tens of millions of euros (dollars). The doors will close to visitors from Sept. 1 this year, with reopening planned for October 2027, when the embroidery will be re-housed in a new building, encased on an inclined 70-meter long table that Verney said will totally transform the viewing experience. How, exactly, the treasure will be transported to the U.K. isn't yet clear. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'The studies required to allow its transfer to London and its exhibition at the British Museum are not finished, are under discussion, and are being carried out between the two governments,' Verney said. But he expressed confidence that it will be in safe hands. 'How can one imagine, in my view, that the British Museum would risk damaging, through the exhibition, this work that is a major element of a shared heritage?' he asked. 'I don't believe that the British could take risks that would endanger this major element of art history and of world heritage.' ___ Leicester reported from Paris.
Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
Quiet ‘Quinzou' offers inclusive Acadian Day celebrations for neurodivergent people
Marie-Pier Leroux is proud of her Acadian heritage, but has found traditional Acadian Day celebrations overwhelming as an autistic woman. She says other neurodivergent people have told her that traditional Acadian Day celebrations, which are often large public gatherings involving loud music, can feel daunting. 'It's either the lights, the noise, and people are hugging each other. People are so happy with this celebration, but (the idea) came to me that maybe we should have something more sensory-friendly for other neurodivergent people that want to celebrate,' she said in an interview. Leroux is a social worker and works as a project assistant at the non-profit Autism Resource Centre in Riverview, N.B. On Friday, her organization held its first Acadian Day, or Quinzou as it's sometimes called in French, specifically adapted for those with sensory issues. Story continues below advertisement 'It's very much just a safe space for people to hang out where the lights will be dimmed and the music won't be too loud and people won't be making as much noise,' Leroux said. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The event features a tent with sensory aids like noise-cancelling headphones for those who need a break, as well as quiet activities like Acadian-themed colouring pages, word searches, temporary tattoos and board games. Participants were asked to sign up in advance to keep the event small. Leroux had seven participants sign up for her event in Riverview, N.B., but said she received inquiries from across the province asking if similar events were being held in other communities. 'Whatever heritage that you got, I think it's important to celebrate it because it's part of who you are. The Acadians have been through so much that it deserves to be celebrated, and it deserves to be a safe space for everybody,' she said. Neurodivergent Acadian artist Céleste Godin is kicking off the tintamarre, an Acadian tradition where people march down the street making noise, in Moncton on Friday, as well as hosting the evening celebrations. It's a modern tradition meant to mark the fact that the Acadian people are still present and thriving. 'The tintamarre is a super sensory intense environment, it's really loud there's hugs every where there's noise everywhere, so it can be overwhelming sensory wise,' they said. Story continues below advertisement They're pleased to hear about Leroux's initiative and use their own techniques to adapt celebrations to their sensory issues. 'Something I do, instead of a noise maker, I'll do a visual thing. I'll bring a fan or blow some bubbles, and that way it's a little less loud in my little bubble,' they said. Marie-Julie Bourque, who is co-ordinating Acadie Rock, Moncton's Acadian Festival, said the organizers are considering offering sensory aids like earplugs and headphones at future events.
Montreal Gazette
2 days ago
- Montreal Gazette
Album review: Grammy-winning Montrealer Kaytranada drops surprise album geared for the dance floor
Entertainment And Life By Montreal Gazette Kaytranada knows how to throw a party. In his opening slot for The Weeknd's two packed concerts at Parc Jean-Drapeau in July, the Montrealer got people moving with an up-tempo set featuring many of his own hits. Far from the reserved DJ-producer, he danced up a storm behind the consoles, occasionally grabbing the mic to hype the crowd. In October, he embarks on a co-headlining arena tour with French electro duo Justice, which sadly won't be stopping in our city. But first he's back with a late-summer surprise: Ain't No Damn Way!, a new album of instrumental jams geared for the dance floor, released a week and change before his 33rd birthday. 'Letting y'all know that this album is strictly for workouts, dancing and studying and for my people that love beats,' he said in an Instagram story this week. It's the follow-up to his Grammy-nominated 2024 album Timeless and double-Grammy-winning 2019 release Bubba. His debut 99% won the 2016 Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album. Along the way, Kaytranada, born Louis Kevin Celestin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised on Montreal's South Shore, has opened for Madonna, remixed Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey and collaborated with Kali Uchis, Pharrell Williams, Anderson .Paak, Snoop Dogg, Childish Gambino, H.E.R., and Pink Pantheress, among others. There are no guests on Ain't No Damn Way!, just Kaytranada doing his thing: pulling together disparate influences to craft singular grooves that stimulate the senses and move bodies in mysterious ways. That's not to say he doesn't have company. The quintessential crate-digger, he borrows textures from an impressive array of sources that showcase both his musical curiosity and intuitive ability to weave bits and pieces into a unified and never overworked whole. First single Space Invader pops with an old-school hip-hop beat and samples Kelis's Neptunes-produced 2001 track Young, Fresh N' New, turning the rejuvenated result into a soulful, scintillating club jam that feels like a lost Michael Jackson recording crossed with a '90s house track. Championship, next, borrows from 1970s German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream to mystical effect. Home grabs a head-bobbing beat from drummer Alex Sowinski of Toronto's Badbadnotgood, while the entrancing Things incorporates echoes of a hook from '80s Nigerian Afro-boogie artist Steve Monite over bongos and synth loops. The twinkling Good Luck is based on a staggered breakbeat by drummer Karriem Riggins, who has worked with Chicago rapper Common and the late, great producer and Kaytranada inspiration J Dilla (who is sampled on the salvational Don't Worry Babe / I Got You Babe). The dreamy interlude lasts a mere 1:47, making it the shortest of 12 songs on an album that clocks in just under the 35-minute mark. Shine Your Light For We matches Barry White instrumental snippets — not that you would know, without reading the credits — with soulful vocals from Wu-Tang Clan rapper Cappadonna's inspirational 1998 jam Black Boy. And closing track Do It! (Again!) (feat. TLC), grabs from the R&B trio's 1994 song Let's Do It Again while giving it the Kaytranada makeover — i.e. turning it into another bumping, gently percolating club jam, the title inviting us to do as we're told and put this addictive album on repeat. A decade into his recording career proper, Kaytranada shows no signs of relenting, and no lack of inspiration. The guy has so many ideas, he has to keep putting out new music. While he has been flirting with mainstream status for a while — his Spotify page shows several tracks with over 100 million streams — it's only a matter of time before he breaks through for real. Until then, it's a treat to watch Kaytranada continue to build his rock-solid reputation as one of the most tasteful and inventive producers around, with an infectious and instantly identifiable sound.
