Musical Wednesdays

Raph Delaé makes “Atlantic” music. The singer-songwriter moves between French chanson, soul, pop and world music, always with his own distinctive signature.

He’s a French-Canadian multi-instrumentalist based in Montreal since 2008. His career took off under the pseudonym Monsieur Raph with the Festival International de la Chanson de Granby in 2015, then the Festival Vue sur la relève 2016 (winning 5 awards) and the FrancoFolies de Montréal – Étoile montante Ford 2017 (public choice award). He released his new album Moitié Plein in 2023.

Inspired by a love for travel and humanity, he celebrates difference, writes about the quest for identity and the essence that drives us, and invites us to take a step back from our daily lives. He brings his sophisticated lyrics to life with a unique and modern one-man band performance.

Sandrine Masse began her career as a classically trained violist. Her love of folk, progressive rock and traditional music has led her to lend her voice and her alto to a variety of musical groups featuring artists from the four corners of the globe. A graduate of the École nationale de la chanson, she won the first prize and public choice awards in the Chante en français competition. Sandrine released her first EP, L’ours noir, in 2022, and is currently working on her next opus, to be released in 2024, which will pay tribute to her home territory of Nionwentsïo.

Sandrine Masse puts on a show that fuses folk music, alternative rock and traditional rhythms. With their timeless ambience and sounds, her songs in French, sprinkled with Wendat, take us on a journey, weaving themselves into stories that present her vision of the world as a Wendat and Québécois artist.

Lara Klaus is a world-famous queer drummer, vocalist and artist from Recife, Brazil, currently based in Montreal, Canada. Described as “remarkably versatile” by Le Devoir, she devotes her life to performances and music mediation, skilfully blending Afro-Brazilian rhythms with contemporary soul-pop influences.

Singer-songwriter, Diogo Ramos is from São Paolo, Brazil. His music is part of the long tradition of popular Brazilian singers. Having studied music, especially guitar, since the age of 13, he has been working professionally for 25 years as a music producer, with 20 albums under his belt as either composer or producer.

Singer-songwriter Juulie Rousseau’s musical garden continues to blossom over the years. Her travels to distant lands and her reflections on life and the world inspire her writing and singing. From India to Mongolia, from Turkey to Iran, Juulie has been moved more than once by the deep relationships that music creates between people, beyond languages and words. She’s constantly learning new ways of singing, of creating sound and music, which continue to shape her art. In 2007, she released her debut album Comme le Monde, followed by Landscape in 2014. In 2021, she released an EP titled Flowers of Prophecies. She is currently working on her next project, the book-album La Conférence des Oiseaux.

Sophie Lukacs is a kora player and singer-songwriter hailing from Montreal, with deep roots in Budapest, Hungary. Trained as a violinist in Western classical music from an early age, a chance trip to Burkina Faso completely changed her musical direction when she discovered the kora: a 21-string lute harp dating back to the Mandingue empire. She moved to Bamako to study under kora legend Toumani Diabaté, and stayed for seven years, performing regularly alongside Malian superstars such as Vieux Farka Touré and Habib Koité. She won Global Roots Album of the Year at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

A’nó:wara Dance Theatre is an Indigenous-run dance company that specializes in creating works that highlight Indigenous themes/stories/perspectives by often combining powwow, Haudenosaunee dance, and mainstream contemporary styles to create a fusion of dance that speaks to many different populations and tastes.

Artistic director and award-winning choreographer Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo is from the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) nation of Kahnawake and is now living in Montreal.  The company’s goals are to create high-quality dance works that inspire others, encourage cultural pride, uplift the spirit, and increase education and communication.