Celebrations began with a two-day Festival at Mississauga Celebration Square and ends in Toronto with a Boat Cruise on 23rd July.
Mississauga (24 June, 2017): To celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday with the tropical flavor’s at the 15th annual TD IRIE Music Festival, the organizers started celebrating African-Canadian culture with music, dance, spoken word, art, food and drink from the Caribbean and across the African Diaspora on Friday, June 23, 2017, at Mississauga Celebration Square.
International and Canadian musicians performed on the main stage at Celebration Square representing genres from reggae, soca, and world music to soul/r&b in the two-day festival from June 23 to June 24, 2017. This year’s headliners included a selection of artists such as the dynamic lover’s rock and dancehall singer, Da’Ville to Aaron “Voice” St. Louis, winner of his second consecutive International Soca Monarch title in Trinidad in 2017.
Other artists included Moses Revolution, one of Toronto’s top soca bands and Blessed, a Juno-award winning and international reggae artist.
The celebrations will continue one month later with the 2nd annual TD IRIE Boat Cruise on Sunday July 23rd. Festival fans are invited to join the crew aboard the luxurious Yankee Lady III. Boarding starts at 1pm near Harbourfront Centre. Cruise time: 1:30pm to 5:30pm. The dancefloor will be jumping with music will be provided by some of Toronto’s top DJs: the legendary DJ Carl Allen; D’Enforcas, Canada’s No. 1 Sound Crew and the award-winning DJ Blacks from Black Reaction Sound Crew – spinning a mix of reggae, soca, soul/r&b, African and more. Tickets are $45.00 in advance. Tickets are available at TicketGateway.com.
The very first TD IRIE Music Festival was presented in 2002 in collaboration with the Toronto Urban Music Festival. IRIE Music Festival has since continued to expose culturally diverse artists to hundreds of thousands of fans while providing the larger community with a unique opportunity to celebrate African-Canadian culture. The TD IRIE Music Festival is widely recognized as a world-class event offering the highest quality of reggae, world music genres including Latin and African, and gospel music to our community every summer.
With free and paid music events, educational, professional development, networking opportunities as well as an awards presentation, IRIE Music Festival strives foster, develop, support and champion a vibrant, dynamic contemporary music and arts community in Ontario, thereby building and enhancing communities through the arts. More than just a music festival, TD IRIE Music Festival also celebrates the Canadian-Caribbean and African Diasporic arts through a multi-disciplinary programming focus that includes the development of opportunities for music and multi-disciplinary artistic talents of culturally diverse Canadian artists. Annual programming includes workshops: music, dance, visual and spoken word performances and exhibits.
Report by: Mary Ashok (CMN News)
