Okay, sure, it snowed on Thursday. Maybe that was Mother Nature’s way of playing an April Fools joke on us.
In general, though, things are getting much nicer outside, but for the time being, most of us are stuck indoors after 9:30pm. Fortunately, there are tons of local arts and music you can enjoy from home.
This week. we’ve got a festival, a movie and a virtual concert from a local venue. Let’s get started:
Shigawake Festival Presents Full Concerts Throughout April
The Shigawake Music Festival has been celebrating Quebec-based musicians since its inception in 2009. There wasn’t an in-person event in 2020 for obvious reasons, but organizers decided to hold its 12th edition anyways, albeit a bit differently.
They filmed The Barr Brothers, Martha Wainwright, SoCalled and a slew of other acts performing in the festival’s namesake town of Shigawake (in the Gaspe Region, population 338) last summer, with a plan to let the general public virtually attend this spring. In March, they streamed the event as three full days of festival performance highlights and now, in April, will be presenting full concerts throughout the month.
It kicks off tonight (April 3rd) at 8pm with Martin Henry.
The 12th Shigawake Music Festival presents Full Sessions for FREE from April 3-30 2021 at ShigawakeMusicFestival.com
Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s No Ordinary Man
Billy Tipton was a transmasculine jazz musician whose career ran from the mid 1930s to the late 1970s. He was long portrayed as an ambitious woman posing as a man to have a better music career, but now Montreal director Aisling Chin-Yee along with Chase Joynt hope to give some justice to Billy’s legacy and question the representation and treatment of transgender individuals in media and society.
Along with with his son, Billy Tipton, Jr. and several members of the trans community, the filmmakers have put together a documentary called No Ordinary Man to celebrate Billy’s life and career. It was released this week, to coincide with the Transgender Day of Visibility (which was March 31st).
Here’s the trailer:
No Ordinary Man opened in select theatres on April 2nd, 2021 and is available to rent and view online
Urban Science Brass Band Close Out Les dimanches couvre-fun
For the past few weeks, Indie Montreal has been offering us a weekly dose of virtual local shows, complete with streaming from a local venue. Tomorrow is final edition of Les dimanches couvre-fun (for now), and they’re going out in a big way, a big band way, with the Urban Science Brass Band performing at Café Campus.
Of course, this group, that sometimes comprises as many as 40 performers (musicians and dancers), is best known for reinventing hip hop classics and performing on the street, flashmob-style, to the huge crowds out during Montreal’s festival season. This year, our fingers are still crossed for a festival season, or at least part of one and the crowds at night aren’t there because, for the moment, they can’t be.
At least we get to bring some of that spirit back this Sunday with the the Urban Science Brass Band. Here’s them doing some of what they do best:
Urban Science Brass Band perform virtually at Café Campus as part of Les dimanches couvre-fun on Sunday, April 4, 8pm. Tickets available through ThePointOfSale.com
If you know of an event that you feel should be covered, please contact arts@forgetthebox.net or music@forgetthebox.net
No promises but we’ll do our best
