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Music News Digest: Coldplay's Chris Martin Takes Second City Improv Class in Toronto
This week: busy summer festival season continues, a new film doc explores the Caribbean Carnival, Montreal's Noëlly signs a record deal and more.
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During Coldplay's recent headline-grabbing run of stadium shows, frontman Chris Martin found time to check out the famed comedy institution, The Second City Toronto.
The company posted this on its Facebook page: "Chris Martin took an improv class. In between sold-out stadium shows, he dropped by to watch our Mainstage show Duel Citizens… If you’ve been to a Second City show, you know what we always say in the outro: 'If you liked what you saw and wanna try improv yourself, you can! We teach classes!' Well… Chris Martin took us up on it. One drop-in class. One incredibly fun and unforgettable afternoon."
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Awards News
Toronto-based jazz singer Denielle Bassels has been awarded the Chalmers Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council, one that enables her to study vocal jazz and opera in Paris in the fall. Prior to that, she continues to gig steadily at clubs and festivals in Ontario. Itinerary here.
– Mississippi-born blues/roots guitar star Mel Brown spent decades of touring and recording in America with a host of stars prior to moving to Kitchener in 1989, where he remained until his death in 2009. He had a huge impact on the blues scene there and nationally in the years following, and received two Juno nominations for his albums. Brown's achievements are now recognised with the news that he'll posthumously receive the honour of a Mississippi Blues Trail marker.
That will come on Aug. 9 at a ceremony hosted by The Grand River Blues Society at 44 Queen St. South, Kitchener during the 25th anniversary of the Kitchener Blues Festival. During the latter part of his long career, Brown recorded for noted Canadian indie blues label Electro-Fi, and label head Andrew Galloway notes that "Words cannot properly express my delight in Electro-Fi Records Inc. artist Mel Brown being honored with the first ever Mississippi Blues Trail Marker placed in Canada. I'm not sure, 30 years later, there would still be a label without Mel Brown and [partner] Miss Angel's belief in me."
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Festivals News
It is now official: The 65th Mariposa Folk Festival, which took place July 4–6, 2025, in Orillia, Ontario, was a major success. This week, the festival chair announced that Mariposa reached a sellout for the fourth consecutive year. Youth and Young Adult ticket sales surpassed the previous record by more than 6%. The three day music fest featured over 70 artists on 11 stages.
– The annual Habari Africa Festival at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto will run from Aug. 8-10. Presented by the Batuki Music Society, this multi-disciplinary African arts festival is free with activities for all-ages. The just-announced lineup includes Fredy Massamba, SAHA, Mbira Soul, Fethi Nadjem and the Juno-winning Okavango African Orchestra with notable guest Lorraine Klaasen. More info here.
– Hamilton's long-running free summer event, The Festival of Friends, returns to Gage Park, Aug. 1-3. It presents a musically eclectic lineup that includes veteran U.S. acts Sister Sledge and The Sugar Hill Gang alongside popular Canadian artists Brett Kissel, The Trews and Dan Mangan. Also featured are the Peter Elkas Band, Chris Chambers and locals Matt Paxton & The Pintos, Alfie Smith, The Wild High, Blood Roses and Jacob Moon. More info here.
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– From July 26 to August 8, Early Music Vancouver (EMV) presents its 55th anniversary summer festival: Bach & Mozart: In Endless Ascent. The classical music fest takes place at various venues, including Vancouver Playhouse, Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Highlights include: an ensemble of more than 50 established and emerging international and Canadian early music artists; a special solo appearance from keyboardist and Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) director Alexander Weimann; a celebration of music and dance, featuring the Montreal-based baroque dance company Les Jardins Chorégraphiques; and a rare, collaborative fusion of Chinese and Baroque instruments in dialogue across cultures and centuries in Silk Strings, among many other performances. EMV's 2025 Artist-in-Residence Magali Simard-Galdès will not only perform in several concerts, but also moderate a roundtable on Sustainability and the Arts. More info here.
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Industry News
New feature documentary Carnival: They Can’t Steal Our Joy will screen in Toronto at Hot Docs on July 24 (tickets here) and at the Nia Centre For The Arts on Emancipation Day, August 4, as part of a national rollout that includes airings on TVO from July 27. Directed, co-produced and co-written by Kitchener-based filmmaker Ian Mark Kimanje, the doc captures the cultural, historical and emotional impact of Caribbean Carnival via a blend of interviews, archival storytelling, and visuals shot across Canada, the U.K., Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. It was recently selected for the 2025 American Black Film Festival and the Caribbean Film and Arts Festival.
– The VENUExVENUE Music Festival and Conference in London, Ontario, has extended its deadline for artist applications to July 25. Submit here.
Artists News
Montreal-based Congolese-Canadian soul singer-songwriter Noëlly has just signed to production and recording company, PK22 Ltd., led by noted British music executive Philip Lisberg. He has worked with the likes of 10cc and is the son of famed music industry figure Harvey Lisberg (ABBA, the Beatles). A former world ranked tennis player, Noëlly is now concentrating on her music career.
– A band comprising respected veterans of the Toronto scene, including Don Pyle from Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, Long Branch recently released a second album, Arc Of the Sun. After recent album launch shows in Toronto and Montreal, they travel to Hamilton for a July 24 gig at Into The Abyss. Opening up is Dale Morningstar of Dinner Is Ruined.
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