Manitoba Music
Nuit Blanche Makes It's CMHR Debut with Live Local Music
For the first time, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens its doors for Nuit Blanche Winnipeg. Featured programming will include live local music from six stellar artists, an installation by Montreal artist Caroline Monnet, and interactive performances with Savant Flaneur.
Music and projections will fill the Bonnie & John Buhler Hall, pairing independent musicians with videos from Manufacturing Entertainment, artist and curatorial duo Julie Gendron and Emma Hendrix, on the Museum’s large Welcome Wall.
Taking the stage for this inaugural performance are psych pop act À La Mode, Francophone emcee and producer Alpha Toshineza, electronic dance pop project French Class, Two-Spirit Anishinaabe musician/composer Melody McKiver, indie rock outfit Tinge, and DJ Zuki.
Music Schedule
6:00 PM French Class
7:00 PM Tinge
8:00 PM Alpha Toshineza
9:00 PM Melody McKiver
10:00 PM À la mode
11:00 PM Zuki
Caroline Monnet’s Synapses will be installed outside the Museum’s Group Entrance. Inspired by tree roots, Synapses uses light, sound and intricately textured mirrors to explore how universal modes of communication can bridge divides. The piece is coming from Toronto, where it dazzled at Nuit Blanche 2022, and will be built at the Museum by Joe Kalturnyk.
Savant Flaneur’s Trio for Illuminated Colour Theory places illuminated domes in front of three classical musicians. The domes light up and are interactive for guests, adding visual excitement to the music.
Visitors can take advantage of lounge seating and bar service in Buhler Hall while enjoying the work of diverse artists and musicians from 6 PM until midnight. This celebration of artistic expression is free and open to all.
This event is an MB Live partnered event. For more info about MB Live, visit manitobamusic.com/mblive. For more info about partnership, please visit manitobamusic.com/partnerships.
À La Mode
Suffused with the playful twee-pop sensibilities of songwriter-producer Domo Lemoine, À La Mode creates spacious oddities that twist and turn like the tail of a kite fluttering in a windy prairie sky. Since 2013, À La Mode has been releasing whimsical songs with plainspoken lyrics, ear catching synths and Ava Glendinning's diaphanous guitar. Their newest EP Diversions, approaching philosophical ruminations with light hearted wit, will be out in late summer, with another full length on its tail.
Alpha Toshineza
Alpha Toshineza is a francophone emcee and producer based in Winnipeg.
Born and raised in Luxembourg, he was a member of a local hiphop crew called MQP. He later spent a few years in Brussels (Belgium) where he started his solo career. Alpha has built a solid resume of releases (mixtapes, EPs and albums) as well as studio recordings with different artists in different genres (from Boom bap to Afrobeat).
Some of these collaborations include acclaimed names like: Kelly Bado, Joanna Majoko, Kev Brown, Oddisee and Elessar Thiessen, just to name a few.
Alpha is the ambassador for French hiphop in Manitoba. His poetry explores and reveals the mysteries of God, our broken humanity, social justice as well as the beautiful grime of our city Winnipeg.
In 2016, he released Jazz Inuit, an album that features his hit song “Tout pour la muzik”. This project earned him his first nomination at the Western Canadian Music Awards as “Francophone Artist of the Year”. In 2017 he won the SOCAN award for best French song for his single “Dis-moi si tu m’aimes”.
In 2019, he was nominated twice as Francophone artist and hiphop artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards for his latest album TRIPLE A.
Alpha is currently working on a new project and will perform some of his newest tracks.
French Class
French Class is an electronic dance pop project led by Megumi Kimata, a beat maker based in Winnipeg. French Class makes you want to put on fresh sneakers, call the pals and get on the dance floor. Megumi works in collaboration with Tiana Garcia on vocal. New Single Dance! is out now!
Melody McKiver
Melody McKiver’s (they/them, do not use any other pronouns) musical work integrates electronics with Western classical music to shape a new genre of Anishinaabe compositions. A proud member of Obishikokaang Lac Seul First Nation, Melody is currently Assistant Professor of Indigenous Music (tenure-track) with the Desaultels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Mizi'iwe Aana Kwat (LGBTQ2S+ Council) within the Anishinaabe Nation of Treaty #3. They are the 2020 recipient of the Canada Council's Robert Flaming Prize awarded annually to an exceptionally talented young Canadian composer, and a recurring invited participant in the Banff Centre for the Arts’ Indigenous Classical Music gatherings.
A frequent performer across Turtle Island, Melody has performed at the National Arts Centre, Luminato Festival, Vancouver’s Western Front, and the Toronto International Film Festival. They have shared stages with Polaris Prize winners Lido Pimienta, Tanya Tagaq, and Jeremy Dutcher, and performed with acclaimed filmmaker and musician Alanis Obomsawin. As a composer, Melody has a growing body of chamber and choral works. Notably, they were commissioned by Soundstreams and Jumblies Theatre to compose Odaabaanag, a string quartet responding to Steve Reich’s Different Trains, drawing on interviews conducted with Anishinaabe elders from Melody’s. Melody has scored several films and was invited to the Berlinale Talents Sound Studio as a music and composition mentor for the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival. Additional commissions have included Cluster Festival, Marina Thibeault, Duo AIRS, Brandon University, Megumi Masaki, Carnegie Mellon University, and TORQ Percussion with the Elora Singers. Upcoming projects include a setting of Métis author Katherena Vermette’s poem river woman for the Elora Singers and TORQ Percussion Quartet, and a full-length album in 2023. Melody holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Memorial University and a BFA in Music and Indigenous Studies from York University.
Tinge
Confessional lyrics paired with dynamic guitar and vocals, Tinge's brand of indie rock is as raw and sorrowful as it is catchy and vast. Drawing comparisons to Big Thief, Camp Cope and Julien Baker - the band has quickly gained a place in the hearts of listeners since their debut EP "Big Deep Sigh" in March of 2023 through House of Wonders Records.
Zuki
“it's simple, I’m here to make you feel something.”
That’s how Zuki describes his purpose as a DJ. With his eclectic musical taste inspired by his travels, you're guaranteed to go on a musical journey and ultimately be left wondering how you ended up on the dance floor. Growing up to his Mother’s 70’s funk essentials box set and his Dad’s Fela Kuti tapes playing in the household, his range of musical influence is wide.
Zuki can take the hypnotizing drums of South African house, saxophone samples from afrobeat hits and blend them effortlessly with your favourite rhythm, funk and hip-hop tunes.
From his humble beginnings almost a decade ago bringing the music to house parties, it didn't matter if it was a dance in Gwagwalada, or a backyard in Moscow, he’s been mixing genres and moving feet with just a couple of turntables. Since then he’s rocked numerous bars, stages and special events. A frequent collaborator with other artists in Winnipeg’s music scene and weekly residencies at Winnipeg’s go-to music venues, his playlists, mixes and remixes have racked up thousands of plays.