The 38th annual Mission Folk Music Festival will return to Fraser River Heritage Park (7484 Mary Street) in the final weekend of July. This time, audiences can enjoy the lyrical mastery of Julian Taylor, infectious Latin American sounds of Empanadas Ilegales, and heartfelt melodies and storytelling of Mimi O’Bonsawin, among others.
On Sunday (July 27) night, Taylor will close the festival with his full band on the main stage. In the past, he enjoyed great success as vocalist and guitarist with the Toronto band Staggered Crossing. It released four studio albums and an EP between 1997 and 2004. After the group broke up, he formed the Julian Taylor Band, which released two well-regarded albums.
Since then, Taylor has embarked on a solo career, releasing the most personal music of his career. He secured two Juno nominations for his mostly acoustic 2020 soul-folk album The Ridge. Taylor also won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Solo Artist, as well as a nomination for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. And he snared five Native American Music Award nominations in the wake of this album.
Taylor has Caribbean and Mohawk ancestry, and earlier this year, he spoke about his intersectional identity with CBC Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild.
“Never black enough to be Black, never red enough to be red—sort of stuck in the middle,” Taylor said in the interview. “I’m proud of my heritage, but I don’t necessarily love talking about it.”
The Ridge includes one song, “Avalanche”, that looks back to childhood summers spent on his grandparents’ farm in Maple Ridge, which is just west of Mission.
Watch Julian Taylor’s video (above) for “Avalanche”.
Mission fest adds Latin flair
Taylor followed up with Beyond the Reservoir in 2022, which earned him a Juno nomination for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year. It touched upon the relationship of humanity to fire, water, air, and earth.
“The ultimate goal for me is just to put out the best work I possibly can,” Taylor says on his website. “If people respond to it in that way, then that’s beautiful. I’m only trying to open the doors for other people like myself.”
On Saturday (July 26), Empanadas Ilegales is the final act on the main stage. In June, the Vancouver band dropped its third studio album, Sancocho Trifásico, which is live on all streaming platforms. It’s billed as “10 tracks of Psychedelis Cumbia, Salsa, and Tropical Experimentation”.
“Cooked flow, served hot,” the band proudly declares on Instagram.
Sancocho Trifásico opens with the joyous “Suto Ta Kandá (de las 4 a las 12)”, featuring Druiz, Myles Bigelow, and Jerlin Torres Salgado. That’s followed by the trumpet-heavy charmer, “Mano Peluda”, and the bouncy and upbeat “Chicharra”. Any of these numbers will likely get the crowd on its feet in Mission.
Empanadas Ilegales is made up of members who come from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, and Canada. It’s comprised of Ricardo Perez (electric guitar, effects, vocals), Daniel Hernandez (bass guitar), Jaime Millan (electric guitar), Daniel Ruiz (drums, vocals), Andrea Milagros (maracas), and Jocelyn Waugh (trumpet).
Listen to “Mano Peluda” (above).
O’Bonsawin invites audiences to howl
A third performer to watch is O’Bonsawin, who’s of mixed French Canadian and Abénaki ancestry from the Odanak First Nation. Fresh off an appearance at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, she will perform on the main stage at 7:25 p.m. on Sunday.
O’Bonsawin has made a mark with ethereal, acoustic folk songs. So much so that Roots Music Canada’s Bev Kreller described her as “an earth mother of the highest order”.
“I want to invite audiences into my world because for me, Music is Medicine,” O’Bonsawin says in the festival website. “It’s not mine, it’s not yours, Music is something we all share, it is Our garden.”
But a month ago, this earth mother surprised her fans by remixing one of her most beloved songs, “Elle Danse”, into a hip-hop and Latin firecracker. And she did it with help from second-gen Latin-American musician Boogát, who was born in Quebec City.
This “high-energy showpiece” also features O’Bonsawin’s husband, Ryan Schuman, on drums.
“We invite audiences to howl and unleash,” O’Bonsawin says in a news release.
Listen to the Boogát remix of Mimi O’Bonsawin’s “Elle Danse” (above).
The Mission Folk Music Festival runs from Friday (July 25) to Sunday (July 27) at Fraser River Heritage Park (7484 Mary Street). For tickets and more information, visit the festival website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. Pancouver is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia. In addition, follow Charlie Smith on Bluesky @charliesmithvcr.bsky.social.
