On Saturday, Apr. 1, Sudbury’s Northern Lights Festival Boréal (NLFB) will head to our neck of the woods to host its first ever Sault Ste. Marie NLFB Meltdown competition. A long-standing tradition in the Sudbury music scene, each year’s NLFB Meltdown winners are invited to perform during the weekend-long festival in beautiful Bell Park.
Even though it's located in Sudbury, NLFB considers itself a northern Ontario festival, said Shawn Kosmerly, NLFB communications and marketing coordinator. Hosting such events across the region allows the festival to better fulfill that role and reach out to more northern Ontario musicians.
“We understand that it's hard for musicians to make the drive up to Sudbury, and we still wanted to see what talent northern Ontario has to offer,” Kosmerly said.
Winners of the Sault Ste. Marie NLFB Meltdown competition will be awarded stage time during the 46th annual festival held this year from July 7 to 9. They’ll be joined by Sudbury Meltdown winners Emmanuel Gasser and francophone rock band Les Frérots Rochers, as well as notables Yukon Blond, Whitehorse, Rae Spoon, Shotgun Jimmie, and many others.
Registration is now open for the Apr. 1 event happening at Loplops. Artists are invited to sign up for the Meltdown here for their chance to play a paid gig at NLFB 2017 and participate in musical mentorship programs. Successful performers will be chosen in two categories – group and solo.
Judges for the Sault Ste. Marie NLFB Meltdown competition include Darlene Darlenya, a musical globetrotter from Sudbury; Max Merrifield, NLFB executive and artistic director; Krisha Patel, NLFB outreach coordinator; Shawn Kosmerly, NLFB marketing and communications coordinator; and Donna Hopper, SooToday photojournalist.
For more information about this event, please click here or email [email protected].