Performers

Social activism and a feverish dance party make a tantalizing combination and 2022 JUNO winner for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year, Dan “DJ Shub” General is the grand marshal we nominate to lead this jubilant parade. Shub is a true original: a title-holding battle DJ/producer, a joyful collaborator and a non-stop creator who skillfully weaves craft, message and heritage. Since exiting A Tribe Called Red, Shub has continued adding jewels to his “Godfather of PowWowStep” crown. War Club is Shub’s latest celebration of Indigenous power: a special filmed on Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario that features Shub’s trademark finger-smoking scratch-a-thons, an all-ages cast of traditional dancers, and plenty of bustles shaking to outstanding musical collaborations with Phoenix Pagliacci, Boogát and Fawn Wood that tells the tale of a young girl searching for her brother with the help of an enchanted war club. Shub’s uncompromising pride in Aboriginal heritage and talent is the driving force behind his art. Join the parade – Shub’s made sure there’s enough hip hop, Indigenous culture, power, protest and humanity for all of us.

Gurnam Bhullar is an Indian singer, actor and lyricist associated with Punjabi language music and films. He is best known for his single Diamond.

With a collective 293 million global streams to date, 2022's JUNO Award-winning Breakthrough Artist of the Year, JESSIA has taken the music industry by storm. In 2021 the pop singer, songwriter captured the attention of social media fans and notable artists including Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer Ryan Tedder who signed her to Artist Driven Records in partnership with Republic Records. Her debut single, "I'm not Pretty" exploded on TikTok, with JESSIA introducing the song and racking up millions of views in a single day, catching the attention of singer, songwriter, and producer elijah woods and later, Grammy-Award nominated artist Bebe Rexha who featured on the remix of the track. Certified Platinum in Canada where it hit #4 at HOT AC, #8 at Top 40, and GOLD in the U.S. where it landed at #33 on the Top 40 chart, the hit single has achieved 271 million global streams and 13 million-plus video views to date. 

22-year-old Canadian artist & producer Ikwinder Singh is innovating the sound of India with his own touch of worldly influences. Ikky’s production encapsulates the diversity and multiculturalism of the city he grew up in. With elements of Toronto’s signature sound of hip-hop & R&B, along with the vibrancy of Caribbean and Punjabi influences, his infectious production style was first introduced on Gurnam Bhullar’s “Diamond.” It’s what caught the attention of international megastars like Amrit Maan and Garry Sandhu who took Ikky under their wing when he was 17-years-old and continues to attract artists like Shubh, Karan Aujla, Torey Lanez, Nseeb, Diljit Dosanjh, and Himmat Sandhu.

Born Wesley Louissaint in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he has grown into his role as a prolific songwriter, guitarist and producer. Uniting a large cross-section of Montreal talent, his music links Haitian voudou and rara with roots, Afrobeat, and hip-hip. Guest spots on his albums include the likes of Tiken Jah Fakoly, Paul Cargnello and Malika Tirolien. He has toured under the Globalfest banner with the Caribbean All-Stars. 

An engaging storyteller, singer-songwriter and performer, three-time JUNO Award nominee Don Amero has been tirelessly touring, performing and speaking across Canada for the last decade, earning the respect and attention of the Canadian Music industry and fans alike. With the rare ability to effortlessly and genuinely connect with his audience, Amero, who is of Cree and Métis heritage, has taken the skills he utilizes on stage and applied them to his advocacy work within Indigenous communities and beyond, including his participation as a youth mentor for the Winnipeg Jets and True North Youth Foundation’s ‘Project 11’. An avid public speaker, Amero created the ‘Music Is Medicine’ workshop, presenting the impact and power music has mentally and physically, and he now serves as the first ever advisor and Chair of the CCMA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Teon Gibbs is quickly becoming one of the most well known voices coming out of Canada. The two things that really separate Teon from his peers are his show stopping performances and his willingness to take risks with his art. Always pushing the boundaries of genre and innovation, Complex UK has stated that Teon's work has “hit on a fusion sound that has been sorely under-explored.”

Exclaim! has described Teon as having a natural ability to blend serious themes with soulful tracks, delivering a thoughtfulness that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries and he demonstrates a willingness to go to places that most artists would be afraid to.

Join the Indigenous Songwriters Circle to learn about songwriting. The songwriting session will be moderated by Lisa Patterson. 

• Saturday, July 22: Musician hosts - Sandy Scofield and Patrick Calihou
• Sunday, July 23: Musician hosts - Don Amero, Renae Morriseau, Semiah

With a style perpetually galvanized by darkness and haunting northern beauty, sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay come together to create Inuit style throat singing duo, PIQSIQ. Performing ancient traditional songs and eerie new compositions, they leave their listeners enthralled with their ability to weave complex emotional landscapes that transcend language.

In Inuktitut, a “piqsiq” is a storm where winds blow in a very specific way, making it seem as if the snow is falling back up towards the sky. This otherworldly, natural phenomenon has become a source of inspiration for the duo, reminding them that things are not always as they seem.

Independent Punjabi singer-songwriter.

Los Duendes is a Psychedelic Latin Fusion band based out of Vancouver. Mixing genres like Cumbia, Salsa and Jazz with soaring virtuosic guitar riffs, their unique sound mirrors the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Canadian culture. The term “Psych Cumbia” refers to various different styles of tropical Latin American music, with their finger on the pulse of today’s latin music reconstruction Los Duendes breathes new life into timeless rhythms like “Chicha” and “Cumbia”. Tener Duende loosely means having soul, a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity. Derived from the duende, an elf or goblin-like magical creature in Spanish mythology. El duende is the spirit of evocation. It surfaces as a physical and emotional response to art. The Duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet… It’s what gives you chills, makes you smile or cry as a bodily reaction to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive. 

Bardic Form is a multi-award-winning instrumental Progressive World Folk group, blending folk, Latin, classical and contemporary music into a high-energy and unparalleled performance. Rising from an impromptu living room jam in 2010, Justin and Reece quickly made a name for themselves as an exciting acoustic guitar duo, and have been captivating audiences ever since. They have been direct support for 8-time Grammy winner Ziggy Marley as well as Delhi 2 Dublin, and have performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival three times, where they shared the stage with Oscar Lopez, Sharon Shannon, and Della Mae.

Weaving together intricate melodies with sophisticated grace, Bardic Form delivers uniquely crafted compositions that are as dynamic and varied as their influences - with a smile and some cheeky shenanigans. From outdoor festivals to living rooms, concert halls to coffee houses, they are a rare gem performing something truly different and unforgettable. Bardic Form is currently recording new music set for a 2023 release.

With their latest single, ‘Paranoid,’ Fake Shark fully embraces their rock influences with an immensely hooky earworm that takes on the day-to-day doubts that, if left to fester, can seriously damage your state of mind.

“With each album cycle, what inspires me to make a song changes,” explains lead singer Kevvy Mental. That’s been a hallmark of the band’s output since they started in 2015 – something that's reflected in their ability to fearlessly, fluently, and seemingly effortlessly incorporate elements of dance music, pop punk, industrial, funk, EDM, and straight-up pop and rock to create a sound that’s impossible to pigeonhole but uniquely their own.

Their upcoming record, Smaze (their fifth in roughly six years), is no exception. That’s crystal clear on ‘Paranoid,’ a compact rocker that, like all of Fake Shark’s music, finds the band blending the styles of a diverse array of artists and refusing to adhere to a paint-by-numbers, approach.

Described as “a retro-Afrofuturist vision sending listeners on a journey through 40 years of electronic music” (Nuvo), Ibrahim’s music brings elements of spoken word, hip hop, soul, house and 70s pop together, filtered through the prismatic and often contradictory lenses of personal, historical and scientific relativities. Even the concept of diaspora seems to fall short of capturing the vivid vibrational multitudes of Ibrahim’s scope.

Bitterly Divine come from Squamish Nation North Vancouver bc the band has been together for 17 years. Our first CD release party was at the River Rock casino, we have played all over bc we had the pleasure to sharing stages with Billy Idol, killers, 54-40, and other great bands.

Born Bulelwa Mtukukana and best known by her stage name ZAHARA. She's a singer and songwriter. She started singing in her school choir when she was only six year old. On May 2012, at the annual South African Music Awards, Zahara won 8 Awards including "Best Female and Album of the Year.

Zahara is a Multi-Platinum Winning musician. She signed history making residency deal with hotel and Casino, Emperor's Palace. The start is the first South African musician achieve this massive deal which will see her perform at the Company's various hotel locally and across the world.