By Cam Delisle
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Up Here Festival Sounds Just Like August Feels
Sudbury’s own urban art and music festival launches second wave of artists, including Juno winner Elisapie and Octopoulpe.
by Natalie Goyarzu
- Published on
Sudbury, Ontario’s Up Here Festival is celebrating its 11th year, immersing the city in a musical and artistic weekend residency. This year’s theme, “Upon Refraction,” poses the question of how we bend like light into a new direction when faced with unexpected moments – so as the lineup expands with a second wave of artists, envision laying in the grass, moving in the sun while it sets on your face, and having the flicker of light bend in your beer and dance around you.
No matter how you celebrate festivals, the corners to explore are endless. Running from August 15 to 17, Up Here 11 spreads across downtown Sudbury, offering art installations, Family Day programming, brunch concerts, dinner shows, guided mural tours, and late night music until the starry skies go to bed. When it comes to the music, though, the festival’s wide spectrum of artists is something to celebrate.
Headlining the festival is multiple Juno Award-winning Inuk musician Elisapie. Her most recent album, Inuktitut, is a captivating movement through familiar songs from the ‘60s to the ‘90s as sung in her first language, Inuktitut.
Octopoulpe
With other highlights such as France born, Seoul influenced, and Mexican-based artist Octopoulpe, who branches the definition of musical experience outwards, Montreal musician Ouri, fusing electronic and classical cello with emotion, and a perhaps not so super-secret lounge, Le Crac, which offers yet one more layer to the multitudes of events taking place.
If it all seems like too much to keep up with, Up Here offers a mobile app to guide you through your weekend. With more than 50 concerts spanning day and night at various venues around the city, there is something on the horizon for everybody.
Up Here Festival runs August 15 to 17 at various locations around Sudbury, ON. Weekend Passes and individual tickets are on sale now at uphere.com
Read RANGE Magazine’s Guide to Sudbury, ON
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Touring their sophomore record, 2, the Saskatchewan indie outfit delivered grin-inducing earnestness at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre.
