Manitoba Music and FortWhyte Alive Launch Winter Songwriter Retreat

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Clockwise from top left: Adam Hanney, Ariane Jean, Bobby Desjarlais, Dominique Lemoine, Jeff Bruce, Jordan St.Cyr, Quinton Blair, Raine Hamilton, Stefanie Blondal Johnson

Manitoba Music and FortWhyte Alive are teaming up this month to present the Manitoba Music Winter Songwriter Retreat. The co-writing retreat will bring nine emerging songwriters together to strengthen their songwriting chops through collaboration at a secluded lakeside field station and architecturally unique cabins at FortWhyte Alive, March 29-31.

The three-day session features a diverse group of songwriters spanning several genres, including Adam HanneyAriane Jean, Attica Riots' Bobby Desjarlais, À La Mode's Dominique Lemoine, Jeff Bruce of Jicah/Colour Revolution, Jordan St.CyrQuinton BlairRaine Hamilton, and Moon Tan's Adrian Dyer.

Music fans will get a rare chance to witness the collaborations live on stage in a special Manitoba Music Songwriter Concert at Alloway Reception Centre, home to the Buffalo Stone Café at FortWhyte Alive on April 9, where all nine songwriters will share their co-written tunes. Doors for the event open at 7:30 p.m., showtime is 8 p.m., and tickets are $9 (available in advance via FortWhyte Alive). 

By the end of the retreat, each songwriter will have added three new songs to their catalog. Previous sessions, supported by the Songwriters Association of Canada, have yielded stellar results. Ruth Moody’s collaboration with Royal Canoe's Matt Peters and producer Derek Norton, "We Can Only Listen, was featured on her JUNO Award-nominated album, The Garden. Western Canadian Music Award-winning producer Arun Chaturvedi and Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Phil Deschambault and Heather Longstaffe, have all received multiple placements in film, television, and commercials based on music conceived at the retreat.

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