About
Canadian soul music vocalist Kellylee Evans opens our Canada Day concert on the waterfront, bringing her improvisational style of jazz, pop and hip-hop to the stage. With seven albums to her name, including a tribute to the legendary Nina Simone (which won her a JUNO Award), Evans has opened for famed musicians such as John Legend, George Benson and Willie Nelson. Promising a high-octane performance of her best hits, audiences can also expect to hear tracks off her newly released album, Show Love.
Then, headliners Digging Roots perform a set of roots-rock, soul-folk, blues and traditional Indigenous music. The Canadian duo, composed of husband and wife Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, explores themes of Indigenous identity, connection to the land and social justice, often incorporating Anishinabek compositional approaches and the “Song Lines” tradition. Breathing life into songs from their ancestral lands, Turtle Island, they seek to raise their voices in solidarity with a global chorus of Indigenous artists, activists and change-makers.
SET TIMES: Kellylee Evans: 8pm – 9pm / Digging Roots: 9:30 – 10:45pm
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About Kellylee Evans
Kellylee Evans has accomplished what she set out to do with her seventh studio project: offer a fresh and innovative approach that establishes new sonic terrain built on the foundation of familiar sounds and styles from the past. From the satisfyingly phat, arpeggiated synthesizer introduction on “Friends” to the polyrhythmic trip-hop accompaniment of “Higher,” — courtesy of producer and arranger Michael Shand, who played every instrument on Show Love — Evans achieves a more futuristic soul concoction that blends elements of R&B, funk and yes, a hint of jazz, into earworm ecstasy. Whether it’s romance, parenthood or self-healing, Evans offers plenty of food for thought on the six songs that comprise Show Love. Her impeccable and versatile voice meticulously delivers the emotional wallop of each song with picture-perfect phrasing.
About Digging Roots
For over a decade, two-time JUNO Award winners Digging Roots have travelled the world with a joyful message of resistance, celebrating Anishinaabe and Onkwehón:we traditions of round dance and interconnectedness.
Digging Roots takes you on a journey through tall grasses, sweet waters and into a joyous and powerful celebration of music. Their fourth album titled Zhawenim, is the Anishinabemowin translation of “unconditional love.” Led by the electrifying current of husband-and-wife team, ShoShona Kish and Raven Kanatakta, the six- piece band responds to a majestic and spiritual call from ShoShona’s earthy vocals and Raven’s exhilarating guitar mastery through a fusion of Turtle Island blues, soul and rock n’roll. For long time fans or new audiences, their constantly evolving live show opens a space, wherever they may be in the world, for healing, compassion, unconditional love and Baamaadziwin (the good life). Constantly interweaving between drum culture and guitar dialects, Raven and ShoShona were raised in cultural families that have continued to resist oppression and colonialism.
