Weaving in influences from her African heritage, la chanson française, and American gospel, Kelly Bado’s music crosses cultural barriers to bring people together in joy and hope. Her striking vocals, uplifting melodies and advocacy work were recognized with 3 awards: Francophone Artist of the Year and Global Artist of the year at the WCMA in 2021, and the Art and Culture Award at the Black and proud Gala in 2024. Kelly’s songwriting reflects the beauty of the languages and rhythms encountered in her personal journey from Abidjan to Winnipeg.
Through her lyrics inspired by love and people, Kelly is committed to promoting a world where we come together as citizens of our planet Earth, each bringing our unique strengths to life’s common experience.
Kelly was honoured to perform along artists like Alessia Cara, Serena Ryder, Walk Off the Earth and to open for 5 times Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo. She was a favourite in La Voix Quebec, winning the People’s Choice award. Sir Paul McCartney, after hearing Kelly’s performance on the show, exclaimed “WOW! What a fabulous, emotional and inspiring performance!”
There are so many stars in the music world that shine only for a moment. And there are stars that rise and fall, but the heat of some stars can’t be contained and must rise again. Toronto-based singer-songwriter Julian Taylor is one of those phoenix-like stars. Julian is a Toronto-based, award-winning singer-songwriter, radio host, and label owner. Over the course of his esteemed career, which spans 20-plus years as the leader of Staggered Crossing, Julian Taylor Band, and his solo work, Julian has established himself as one of Canada’s greatest troubadours. He’s earned four Juno Award nominations, along with a four of Canadian Folk Music Awards nominations, winning solo artist of the year in 2022, five Native American Music Award nominations, a Country Music Ontario nomination, Three Folk Music Ontario nominations, plus a nomination for Canada’s most prestigious music accolade, the Polaris Music Prize. Julian is known for his versatility as a songwriter, singer, and band leader. As well, as a self-managed musician who has handled every facet of his own career for over two decades, including owning his own label, Howling Turtle, Julian exemplifies the DIY ethic and been a model for other indie artists to follow.
Special thanks to the City of Toronto for their support of Toronto #GTMF24 artists.
Harmony Adesola, better known as “Harmz,” is a versatile and talented 23-year-old Canadian creative from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Specializing in hip-hop and pop, Harmz channels his life experiences into his music, which serves as his main form of self-expression. From a young age, he used music to channel his emotions, ultimately transforming his passion into a career.
Harmz has produced numerous captivating music videos and short documentaries, gaining significant attention on social media, particularly on his YouTube channel. His talent was first officially recognized when he won the TD Music Moves Me competition. Since then, he has performed across Canada as one of RBC’s inaugural First-Up artists and at events like the Grand Oasis Summer Series, Hopscotch, and Dalhousie University’s orientation week.
His debut album, “The Best is Yet to Come,” released on September 24th, 2021, was nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s Hip-Hop Recording of the Year for 2022. His recent EP, “Better Watch,” released on September 8th, 2023, includes features from Halifax legends Lindsay Misiner and Maje, and was nominated at the 2024 East Coast Music Awards for Rap/Hip-Hop Recording of the Year.
In addition to music, Harmz is skilled in filmmaking and acting. His 2020 documentary “Youth Hip-Hop and Halifax” was featured in the Halifax Black Film Festival and the Montreal International Black Film Festival, and is available on CBC Gem. In 2023, he was nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Video Director of the Year.
Harmz also co-founded PRZM, a music collective promoting local artists like Mo Money Matteo, DSO, and Timothy Robot. PRZM fosters collaboration and positivity in the region’s arts scene, and hosts a podcast, “Behind the Sound.”
Harmz’s passion, talent, and determination make him a compelling artist. With a strong work ethic and growing fanbase, he is poised to become a powerful force in Canadian hip-hop and pop scenes.
Las Empanadas Ilegales, a Vancouver-based Psychedelic Cumbia and Salsa band, has been captivating audiences since 2017 with their contagious and groovy melodies and powerful percussive rhythms. This seven-piece ensemble, composed of diverse musicians hailing from various Latin American homelands, blends cumbia rhythms, hypnotic guitar melodies, and experimental salsa saxophone lines with surf-rock/free-jazz fusion. Their latest record, “Creepy Mambo,” pays homage to Cumbia cult classics while infusing contemporary, experimental synth sounds, slinky dub grooves, and feverish percussion departures.
Today, Las Empanadas Ilegales continues to craft new music and offer electrifying performances at festivals across Canada, including the Vancouver International Jazz Fest, Calgary Folk Fest, Tofino Jazz Fest, Small World Toronto, Global Toronto and more. With a lineup that boasts diverse talent, they offer a diverse and inclusive experience on stage. Having performed alongside acclaimed acts like Killer Mike, Sonido Gallo Negro, Helado Negro, Haley Blais, DEHD, Jesse Roper and many others they cultivate an immersive experience that guarantees an unforgettable journey for all audiences. With their infectious beats and unique sound, Las Empanadas Ilegales are a must-have addition to any lineup, offering an unparalleled energy and vibrancy that keeps crowds moving and grooving all night long.
Born in Mauritania, a Sahelian country, and raised to Casamance, a lush tropical region located in the south-west of Senegal a region to indulge in the joy of dance. When he left the African continent and flew to Paris, in the “suitcases” of Hamidou, his dad, a member of the famous Senegalese group Toure Kunda, pioneer of modern African music, Daby Touré as already assimilated Pulaar, Woloff, Diola and Toucouleur melodies and rhythms as well as other inspirations The Police, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Dire Straits.
His very first album was released in 2000, called “Laddé”, and recorded with his cousin Omar under the name Touré-Touré. In 2003, Daby’s first solo opus, entitled “Diam”, enthused Peter Gabriel and was released in 2004 on Real World, Gabriel’s record label. The rising star Daby Touré released two more CDs with Real World: “Stereo Spirit” in 2007 and two years later the EP “Call My Name », a beautiful collaboration with the bluesman Skip McDonald. In 2012, the album “Lang(u)age came out on Universal. For the first time, Daby sings in French and two iconic French singers feature on it: Maxime Le Forestier and Francis Cabrel. Finally, “Amonafi” got published by Cumbancha in 2015.
It is sometimes difficult to identify the musical ingredients used by Daby Touré. A maestro composer and arranger, he is playing his magic, a kind of recipe which the “top chef” would keep secret. With scents of Folk music in the vein of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young along Blues notes carrying the wind of the desert and melodies that evoke the lullabies sung by his Soninke grandmothers but bring us back irresistibly towards California or Paris… topped with aromas in his lyrics that have the form of ancestral tales passed through the sieve of current realities… This is Daby Touré’s art.
Today he is coming back with with a kind of source return, which will allow him to link back with his fans and feed a new upcoming album.
Special thanks to the Bureau du Québec à Toronto for their support of Québec #GTMF24 artists.
Aphrose stands as a refreshing figure in Canada’s musical landscape, embodying the essence of R&B and Neo-Soul. Seamlessly blending vintage soul with contemporary elements, her music transcends time.
Aphrose goes beyond mere performance, intertwining personal narratives of love, loss, and familial complexities, paying homage to the enduring legacy of R&B and Soul. In 2023, her global breakthrough came when Black Entertainment Television (BET) featured her video “Roses” on BETSoul. Tracks like “Good Love” secured spots in the CBC Top 100 Searchlight Competition, while “Roses” was handpicked by CBC Music’s “Songs You Need To Hear” series. Her music resonated across Europe, gracing renowned platforms like BBC Radio 6, Italy’s ‘Radio Capital,’ and Spain’s RTVE, FIP France, alongside extensive airplay in North America.
Aphrose’s album “Roses” garnered attention from SOCAN Words & Music Magazine, NOW Toronto, Toronto Star, and Fader Magazine. Collaborating with Grammy, Soul Train, and JUNO Award-winning artists such as Daniel Caesar, Charlotte Day Wilson, and Jessie Reyez, she’s become a sought-after background singer for some of Canada’s finest artists. Opening for icons like Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) on their Moon vs. Sun tour, further solidified her presence as one to watch.
Her debut album “Element” (2019), received accolades from CBC Music, Earmilk, and Exclaim!, while her voice featured in the 2019 NBA Finals commercial on Rogers Sportsnet. Continuously making an indelible mark on Canadian music, Aphrose’s artistry blends past and present, captivating audiences with its soul-stirring resonance.
Her sophomore LP “Roses” is available across various streaming platforms, marking another milestone in her musical journey.
Special thanks to the City of Toronto for their support of Toronto #GTMF24 artists.
Andrina Turenne is a woman with more than one ace in her pocket, telling stories through song, delivered in the spirit of road trips, kitchen parties, and bonfire gatherings. In April of 2023, the Juno award-winning Franco-Manitoban/Red River Métis artist released her first solo record, Bold as Logs. The bilingual, spirited debut has charted on independent radio in Canada and the US. It was followed up with Je suis un arbre, a francophone EP released in Spring 2024 amidst performances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Festival International de Louisiane. Andrina observes life and all its characters with a loving eye, and tells their stories with an honest hand. After decades performing with various groups, she now embraces a solo chapter. She sings in two languages, she has her feet firmly planted in more than one genre, and she is just as comfortable standing atop the Canadian Shield as she is lazing by a South Louisiana cypress swamp. She is a powerful musician and vocalist who can rattle the roof, and she is simultaneously a hushed troubadour who’ll have you smiling through tears. Turenne is an artist who sings and plays with the real excitement of discovery and the wild freedom that comes with blazing new paths.
If you take just one thing from AHI’s music, let it be this: you are not alone.
“No matter how low, no matter how defeated you may feel, you’re never really on your own in this world,” he explains. “We’re all connected to each other, and when you find your calling and your purpose and you tap into those connections, beautiful things start to happen.”
AHI’s extraordinary body of work, is proof of just that. A collection of music that is bold and expansive, with a captivating, immersive sound that showcases the raw power of his gravel-on-silk vocals like never before. His songs are deeply introspective, looking inwards with piercing insight and unflinching honesty, and AHI’s performances are similarly direct and fearless, blurring the lines between roots, folk, pop, and soul as he grapples with pain and healing, faith and resilience, connection and identity.
While much has been made of AHI’s years spent backpacking everywhere from the hills of Ethiopia to the jungles of Trinidad, his music tells the story of an even more profound journey, the internal quest for understanding and self-reflection that propelled the globetrotting singer/songwriter to the forefront of the international Folk/Roots stage.
AHI’s path is a far cry from his humble upbringing in Brampton, Ontario, to a traditional Caribbean family of teachers. It wasn’t until college that he began teaching himself to sing and play guitar, and though he was by all accounts an exceptional student, he dropped out of school before graduation and began traveling the world with little more than a backpack to his name. Relying on the kindness of strangers to get by, AHI hiked, meditated, and fasted his way across Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa, learning more about human nature and the contours of his own soul through his expeditions than a lifetime of classroom education could ever have taught him.
“When you put yourself out there like that, you learn how to see the goodness of humanity,” AHI explains.
Special thanks to the Brampton Arts Organization for their support of Brampton #GTMF24 artists.