Canadian tunes for your downtime
FRIENDS is sharing recommendations for great Canadian content to lighten the load of our shared experience during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Help us share these Canadian gems with even more people and support Canadian artists during the pandemic. Become a patron today.
If you’re the kind of person who, like me, lives for the thrill of live music, the news of late has been somewhat grim: experts predict it will be the spring of 2021 before large physical gatherings like concerts and festivals can return to our public spaces.
It's almost impossible to imagine that I might not see another band in my local bar or attend an outdoor music festival this year. But this is the new normal, to keep our communities safe. It makes me especially grateful for the musicians who continue to perform for us online, so that we can keep singing our songs, dancing in our kitchens, and feeling the beat of music in our hearts.
Tell Our Stories Together is FRIENDS' way of connecting Canadians to each other through the arts. We’ve asked musicians, comedians and poets to record a performance while in self-isolation, and we are pleased to share these original works with you, wherever you may be sheltering.
Today, we present three new videos featuring more Canadian music. We invite you to turn up your sound and enjoy. — Liisa Ladouceur
If 2020 has you feeling down, why not party like it's 1919? London, Ontario visual artist and vintage music collector Sarah Legault spins a big band composition from 1914 on her Edison Amberola gramophone. — Liisa Ladouceur
Branchez-vous à votre culture en vous abonnant aujourd'hui!
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There's nothing better to kick-off the week with than a soothing melody to remind us that this social isolation is only temporary. Anxieties are still high and the daily challenges we all face may, at times, feel insurmountable. PEI-based folk singer-songwriter Catherine MacLellan reminds us that everything will be alright in the end. Catherine has recorded seven albums and her latest album Coyote was released in 2019. — Shazlin Rahman
Jazz pianist Jim Clayton is using his time in isolation to work on a new album, which includes a cover of Canadian rock and roll icon Ian Thomas's classic, "Hold On." His latest album, Lenny Jumps In, landed him in the Top 10 on Canadian jazz radio. This particular song has been covered by other artists including Santana, and it's exactly the song to play while we hunker down to try and weather through this pandemic.— Shazlin Rahman