Drawing from their backgrounds in classical, jazz and traditional Quebecois music, Élisabeth Moquin, Thierry Clouette and Élisabeth Giroux have come together in 2015 to create a new and exciting group. The instrumentation of their unique and modern sonority consists of fiddle, cello, bouzouki, voice, foot-tapping and step dancing. É.T.É’s performances and creations are dynamic and modern! No matter where they go, audiences appreciate their amazing energetic style, performance complicity and their up-to-date musical style.
A 14-time Grammy winner and Billboard Century Award recipient, Emmylou Harris’ contribution as a singer and songwriter spans 40 years. She has recorded more than 25 albums and has lent her talents to countless fellow artists’ recordings. In recognition of her remarkable career, Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2018.
Harris is known as much for her eloquently straightforward songwriting as for her incomparably expressive singing. Admired through her career for her talent as an artist and song connoisseur, Harris shook up country radio in the 1970s, and established herself as the premiere songwriter of a generation selling more than 15 million records and garnering 14 Grammy Awards, three CMA Awards, and four Americana Awards.
Harris is one of the most admired and influential women in music. She has recorded with such diverse artists as Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Lanois, Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, Gram Parsons, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Ryan Adams, Beck, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett and Rodney Crowell. Few artists have achieved such honesty or have revealed such maturity in their writing. Forty years into her career, Harris continues to share the hard-earned wisdom that—hopefully if not inevitably—comes with getting older, though she’s never stopped looking ahead.
A longtime social activist, Harris has lent her voice to many causes. Most passionately to animal welfare. In 2004 she established Bonaparte’s Retreat with the goal of rescuing shelter dogs and adopting them into forever homes. To this day, Bonaparte’s Retreat continues to save dogs most in need at Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control and at municipal shelters in surrounding counties.
Émile Sopkowe (they/them) has had a lifelong interest in blurring the boundaries between craft and art. When they discovered rug hooking, they delved headlong into an exploration of textiles, which are associated with comfort and warmth within our homes, but have appeared less often in spaces devoted to art.
Émile is a queer and trans educator, a human rights advocate, and a person who lives with a disability. They have a passion for creating opportunities for children to explore art not only as a means to produce a creative product, but also as a way to express emotion and to explore facets of identity. They use primarily repurposed materials, in keeping with the traditional roots of hooked rugs, but often incorporate unconventional themes into this traditional medium. As rug hooking is associated with women’s handiwork and craft, Émile plays against these perceptions to sometimes create dissonance between the medium and the imagery. Even when hooking within more traditional themes and images, Émile uses a rich and varied range of repurposed materials to capture a contemporary interpretation of the imagery.
Émile is a juried member of the NL Craft Council and has sold hooked rug pieces in Craft Council members exhibitions. They presented a virtual rug hooking workshop at the Tombolo Multicultural Festival in 2020. They were awarded an ArtsNL grant in 2024 for a rug hooking project. In 2024, they were selected as an exhibitor at the Memorial Botanical Gardens exhibit Windows on the Garden, the Art Around the Bay curated art fair in Cupids. Their hooked rug Trans Formation was purchased in 2024 by NL Health Services for display at the new Mental Health and Addictions hospital.
Eleanor Dawson grew up in Bay Roberts, where she developed a lifelong interest in the history, folklore, and culture of Newfoundland and Labrador. One of the founders of the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, Eleanor has a particular interest in traditional singing and has a vast repertoire of songs from the English, Irish, and Newfoundland traditions. She is currently co-host of the monthly St. John’s Song Circle at the Crow’s Nest Officers’ Club in St. John’s.
Dumai Dunai – your favourite uncle’s favourite kitchen party soundtrack
Montreal-based Dumai Dunai has an eclectic sound. Formed in 2021, they bring the deep grooves of dub and the energy of punk rock to ancient Slavic singing styles and the euphoric fury of Balkan wedding brass bands. This band is on a mission, and the mission is to make you dance.
Lead singers Natalia Telentso and Eli Camilo sing and write lyrics in several languages, including Ukrainian, English, Serbian, French, and the diverse band has members originally from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Canada, and the USA.
Dumai Dunai has been honoured to share the stage with artists including the Barr Brothers, Socalled and Balaklava Blues, and have played festivals such as Pop Montreal, Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), Mondo Karnaval (Quebec City), and Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival.
Featuring past and present members of Boogat, the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Orkestar Kriminal, and Kaba Horo, Dumai Dunai is currently working on their debut album, to be released in 2024.
Band members:
Eli Camilo – trumpet, vocals
Natalia Telentso – vocals
Julian Selody – saxophone
Eric Dube – trombone
Jordan Markov – drums
Kaloyan Mihaylov – bass
Kevin Moquin – guitar
Duane Andrews casts a wide net in the musical world. Uniting what would seem to be impossible – traditional Newfoundland music with the swing jazz of the legendary two fingered guitarist Django Reinhardt, Andrews makes it not just work – he makes it soar. The Juno award winning composer, arranger, producer, conductor and globetrotting performer’s latest album is the best evidence yet of his inimitable musical vision and is the sound of him, literally, bringing it all back home. He’ll be joined by the hottest swing band in the bay The Hot Club of Conception Bay which features Erin Power (vocals/mandolin), Andrew Dale (bouzouki/bass) and Isaac Andrews Power (fiddle).
DUANE ANDREWS‘ music is the product of a great ear, an adventurous spirit and a love of music that is beyond category. Uniting what would seem to be impossible – traditional Newfoundland music with the swing jazz of the legendary Django Reinhardt, Andrews makes it not just work – he makes it soar. The Juno award winning producer, composer, guitarist and globetrotting performer’s latest album is the best evidence yet of his truly unique musical vision and is the sound of him, literally, bringing it all back home.
A native of the island of Newfoundland, off the east coast of Canada, Duane grew up exposed to the island’s mélange of cultural influences and his development as a guitarist reflects that. After graduating from the Jazz Studies program at St. FXU with honours, Duane spent several years studying contemporary music composition at the Conservatoire International de Paris and at the Conservatoire National de Region in Marseille, France.
