SASKMUSIC DELIVERS
Livestreamed concert celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day
There’s no need to be deprived of live entertainment during COVID -19 social distancing. Here are some of this week’s livestreamed events:
Saskmusic is celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day with a concert featuring a long list of artists from across the province. Tune into the livestream to hear music from Donny Parenteau, Yvonne St. Germaine, Marentin Fehr, The North Sound, and 20 others. It’s a long list of awesome talent packed into one big concert that you’d be hard-pressed to get anywhere else.
■ Saturday, June 20, beginning at 7 p.m., via Facebook Live (@ Saskmusic1) and Youtube Live.
COVID-19 might be putting a damper on a lot of events, but the Make Music Canada festival is taking place in a virtual format. The festival, which aims to highlight the “ethnic and linguistic diversity of Canada,” will feature one Saskatchewan artist.
Regina-based francophone Étienne Fletcher sings in both English and French, and has taken home numerous awards for his songwriting talents. Fletcher’s modern, smooth poprock style is a breath of fresh air among Saskatchewan musicians.
Even though he’ll be performing as part of Make Music Canada on the East Stage (possibly the first time any Saskatchewan artist has been considered to be from the East in Canada), Fletcher is a musical marvel among Prairie performers.
There are plenty of performers to watch on the festival’s four virtual stages, but make sure to check out his show.
■ Sunday, June 21, beginning at 5 p.m., via Facebook Live and Youtube Live.
For something a little different, the Saskatoon variety show Musical Mondays, filled with local talent from the community theatre scene, will return on June 22. The event is filled with talented singers and performers from throughout the Saskatoon community singing some of your favourite Broadway musical hits.
This Musical Monday is themed “Broadway Backwards” — women will sing songs originally intended for men, and vice versa. If you need some fun music to take the edge off a Monday, this is the way to get it.
■ Monday, June 22, 7:30 p.m., via Facebook Live on Musical Mondays’ page.
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. hosts a series of livestreamed concerts through its Isabel Digital Concert Hall. There are plenty of performances to be on the lookout for, but one truly unique concert is Sadaf Amini, an Iranian-canadian virtuoso who plays a traditional Iranian instrument called the santur.
The santur is a hammered stringed instrument (meaning it must be struck to be played) with the potential to create some beautiful, quick-moving melodies in skilled hands — and Amini certainly has those. She plays both traditional music and her own compositions on the instrument.
■ Saturday, June 20, 1 p.m., via Facebook Live on the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts’ page.
Toronto-based performer Royal Wood, a Canadian singing and songwriting star, will also perform a live show with the DT Livestream Series. You do have to purchase a ticket for this one, but it’s worth it.
Wood is one of those performers who just sticks out in your brain. The pop-folk performer does a masterful job of using acoustic sounds to give his music an intimate sound that pairs beautifully with his deeply personal lyrics.
Fun story: He met his partner in Saskatoon. It’s definitely a concert worth paying a few bucks for.
■ Saturday, June 20, 7 p.m., via Zoom. Tickets can be purchased on the DT Concert Series website.
HONOURABLE MENTION
It’s not a concert, but Saskatoon-based rock band W3APONS releases their newest single, Bye Baby Gone, on Friday, June 19. The band released a teaser trailer of sorts online last week in anticipation of the release, and if their previous work is any indication, it promises to be a great tune.