Passer à la version française …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2016 – Melanie Brulée, Anique Granger and Cindy Doire will headline the Ottawa Grassroots Festival on Thursday, April 20 2017. Now in its 6th year, this music event will take place from April 20-23 at The Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Avenue, in Old Ottawa South. The talented female Francophone singer-songwriters have independent successful solo careers and have side projects that united them, as they are doing at the festival with a show called “An evening with the girls”. Their vocals and their twist on folk music, touching on elements of rock, pop, jazz, blues and psychedelia, is certain to generate new fans.
Melanie Brulée is known for charismatic live performances and contagious energy. She launched her latest Francophone release Débridée to a sold out crowd at The Burdock Music Hall in Toronto on May 26, 2015. Radio listeners throughout Canada and Québec have been enjoying these atmospheric folk tracks infused with rock in perfect symbiosis. Her song Antidote du doute earned Melanie the 2015 Folk Music Ontario Stingray Music “Songs From the Heart” Award. Outside her music, she is a proud ambassador for mental health, offering bilingual self-confidence workshops for youth across Canada.
Originally from Saskatchewan, Anique Granger has represented the Western Francophones brilliantly for over 15 years. She has toured Canada and Europe, showcasing her first two solo albums. Her album, Les outils received accolades from the industry and was nominated for the Trille Or awards in 2013 for Best Album in Western Canada. Granger also won the Canadian Folk Music Award in 2012, in the Francophone Album of the Year category. In 2011, la Foundation SPACQ presented her with the Edith Butler prize for her first album, Pepins. In 2015, she released her most recent collection of songs called, Aimee comme une émeute, offering the listener a folk-pop sound, with electric infusions amid poetic lyrics.
Slim and petite, Cindy Doire has a voice that can whisper a lyric in your ear that will startle your heart (and maybe your libido). This is a woman who can channel the moody atmosphere of French singers from Piaf to Françoise Hardy and pin you against the back wall with a Joplin-esque wail to shatter your soul. She just recently released her first album of English songs, Sticks and Mud, to whom she dedicates to “all the troubadours, vagabonds and bandits with whom I’ve crossed paths.” A troubadour and a vagabond herself, she’s also an inventive, collaborative, thoughtful songwriter and a dynamic on-stage performer, and one who’s been at home in a recording studio since she made her first CD back in 2007. She has two other award winning CDs, La vie en Bleu and Chapeau de pluie that earned her Best Album by a Solo Artist at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards and major awards at Quebec’s prestigious Festival International de Granby and from Contact Ontarois. And she has been nominated for no less than three awards at the upcoming 2011 Gala des Prix Trille Or.
“We have put together a solid evening of extremely talented singer-songwriters that are Francophone and who are independent artists but have also performed together before” says Bob Nesbitt, Festival Producer. “You will be impressed with their music and the unique way they combine music genres. If you are new to these artists, you will walk away a fan.”
Opening the evening are duo, Geneviève RB & Alain Barbeau, a folk / popular acoustic universe, where one escapes in harmony, sweetness, complicity and emotion. Geneviève RB’s vocals are at once enchanting and melodic that mingle with the notes of her piano. Alain Barbeau, offers a folk, warm and soothing voice that follows the rhythm of his acoustic guitar. When their songs intertwine, they take the audience on a journey that is both therapeutic and good for the soul. They are a duo in life, as in music and will present to you the album and the show: On est les deux.
Showcasing music in different languages, especially in French, is something that is valued by everyone involved with the festival. It breaks down barriers between the music solitudes that exist in this region” says Bob Nesbitt, Festival Producer. “When you receive overwhelming positive feedback, as we have with our past Francophone nights, you realize you are helping to build a stronger supportive community.”
Tickets for Ottawa Grassroots evening performances are now on sale, available online through the festival website. They are priced to be affordable for families (children 15 and under are free when accompanied by an adult). The daytime events on both Saturday and Sunday are FREE for everyone! “We are equally excited about the daytime programming we have lined up this year,” adds Nesbitt. “Announcements will be made in the New Year.”
The Grassroots Festival is a family-friendly gathering of folk music, dance and spoken word. It’s called Grassroots because it is! This not-for-profit organization is run entirely by volunteers and prides itself for the participatory workshops it provides, cultivating community and nurturing inclusivity in a fun and friendly way.
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Media contact: Bob Nesbitt, 613-794 9161, e-mail: nesbittr@sympatico.ca
For more information:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/pages/Ottawa-Grassroots-Festival/210912422324113
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OttGrassroots