A short list of women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists
ETA: Because this is awesome, we’re creating an accessible database for Trans folks, Non-Gender-Binary folks, and Women to add themselves and/or their bands so that bookers can find them. We launched it in Winter 2020; you can check it out here (and also add yourself or your band!). All of the artists in this short list are also in the database!
ETA 2: When this post was originally published in Spring 2018 on our old website, it generated 138 replies from members of the community, listing more than 600 artists and bands. We’ve collected this information in the database above, and are looking for volunteer to help flesh out the details. Contact Candace at candace@secretfrequency.ca if you’d like to help out!
Every time I bring up the idea of gender parity at festivals, some bright spark says ‘but there aren’t enough women performing music these days!!’ or ‘I don’t know where to look!’ or ‘I tried. but they were allllll busy!’
To save your selves from looking stupid in front of your colleagues in the music industry, here’s a short list of some women and gender non-conforming Canadian artists that you should be paying to play your festivals.
(We know that the larger agencies in Canada are basically useless with regards to women artists; they rep a handful, but generally don’t pay much attention to what women are doing in the music industry until they’re forced to. Bookers need to look beyond the artists that a major agency can suggest until these agencies decide to join us in the 21st century.)
Sometimes festivals with a very low percentage of women in their lineups tell us they’re trying to book more women; we’re here to tell them to try harder.
Artists, we’ve of course missed hundreds if not thousands of women – please chime in with a link to your work in the comments below!
alvvays, Land of Talk, Snowblink, Winona Wilde, Digging Roots, Eekwol, Anh Phung, Renders, Evangeline Gentle, Shakura S’Aida
Maylee Todd, Purity ring, Rose Cousins, Emily Burgess, Zaki Ibrahim, Dirty Dishes, Suzie Vinnick, Leela Gilday, Inez Jasper
Charlotte Day-Wilson, Sarah Harmer, Stars, Lowell, Dani Nash, Fefe Dobson, Ventanas, Dana Sipos, Susan Aglugark
Kathleen Edwards, Allison Brown, Weaves, The Beaches, SC Mira, kd lang, Flavia Nasciamento, LCon, IsKwé, Kinnie Starr
Julien Baker, Case/Lang/Viers, Beyries, Gathering Sparks, Repartee, Fiver, Elisapie Issaac, Leanne Goose,
Bernice, Haviah Mighty, Blunt Chunks, Michie Mee, Young Galaxy, The Jerry Cans, Joyful Joyful, Tara Williamson
Lido Pimienta, Duchess Says, Kristine Schmitt, The Luyas, Crystal Shawanda, Rae Spoon, Tracy Bone
Michelle McAdorey, Camille Delean, Julie Doiron, Ali Fontaine, Moscow Apartment, Korea Town Acid
Witch Prophet, Lindsay Beaver and the 24th Street Wailers, July Talk, Connie Caldor, Common Deer, Aerialists, Christa Couture
Kaia Kater, Irish Mythen, Tasha the Amazon, Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar, Sarah Jane Scouten, Amelia Curran, Cris Derkson
We’re also going to refer you to Witch Prophet for a great list of that she tweeted out and which was posted in NOW Magazine as ‘Witch Prophet lists 30 women leading the Toronto rap game.’
ARTISTS: If we’ve mis-gendered you, please let us know and we’ll correct it immediately.
