It has been almost three years since fes­ti­val­go­ers left their com­mu­ni­ty at Birds Hill Provin­cial Park, but the Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val is back for July 7 to 10, 2022.

As Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val began curat­ing the 2022 line­up it was impor­tant to invite back artists meant to play the can­celled 2020 fes­ti­val. Tash Sul­tana, Aus­tralian self-taught mul­ti-instru­men­tal­ist, will bring a mem­o­rable live per­for­mance. As well, the Gram­my-nom­i­nat­ed exper­i­men­tal pop band Japan­ese Break­fast, Polaris Music Prize win­ner and Gram­my-nom­i­nee Lido Pimien­ta will return to the line­up for 2022.

In addi­tion to acts sup­posed to play in 2020, the Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val is thrilled to bring Gram­my award-win­ning alter­na­tive rock group Por­tu­gal. The Man, mul­ti-Gram­my award-win­ning and leg­endary blues gui­tarist Bud­dy Guy, JUNO award-win­ning Cana­di­an indie rock band The Strum­bel­las and 2021 Polaris Music Prize win­ner, hip hop artist Cadence Weapon and 2022 Gram­my award-win­ning artist Arooj Aftab for ​“Best Glob­al Performance”.

For the first time, Thurs­day night will see per­for­mances on both Main Stage and Big Blue @ Night. Big Blue @ Night will be adding an addi­tion­al day with shows on Thurs­day, Fri­day and Sat­ur­day nights. It is open­ing on Thurs­day with singer-song­writer Weyes Blood and mul­ti-instru­men­tal­ists Kurt Vile & The Vio­la­tors.

“We are so excit­ed to get back out to Birds Hill Park with an incred­i­ble line­up for the return of the Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val. With the sup­port of our incred­i­ble com­mu­ni­ty through­out the pan­dem­ic, we’ve been able to make a strong home­com­ing by bring­ing artists from all over and who appeal to all ages and all music lovers,” said Chris Fray­er, Artis­tic Direc­tor of the Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val. ​“The incred­i­ble tal­ent we have lined up will real­ly high­light our artis­tic vision of pre­sent­ing strong and diverse tal­ent that will res­onate with our audience.”

Over four days of incred­i­ble per­for­mances with 60+ artists, some high­lights to note:

Cel­e­brat­ing tal­ent right here at home. You’ll hear coun­try Amer­i­cana artist Bob­by Dove, rock ​‘n’ roll favourite Boy Gold­en, Juno-nom­i­nat­ed Del Bar­ber, the san­guine lyrics of FONTINE, self-taught indie musi­cian Jay­Wood, singer-song­writer and per­form­ing artist Lei­th Ross and the deep bari­tone vocals of Richard Inman.

Indige­nous artists include the afore­men­tioned FONTINE as well as Polaris Music Prize win­ner Jere­my Dutch­er. Arc­tic soul band The Trade-Offs, Inu­it throat singers PIQSIQ, mul­ti-instru­men­tal­ist and R&B artist Sebas­t­ian Gaskin and tra­di­tion­al hoop dancer Shan­ley Spence.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jer­ry Har­ri­son teams up with musi­cian, song­writer and pro­duc­er Adri­an Belew to play the Talk­ing Heads Remain in Light, the band’s fourth stu­dio album. Remain in Light, released in 1980, was acclaimed by crit­ics, who praised its son­ic exper­i­men­ta­tion, and rhyth­mic innovations.

The Win­nipeg Folk Fest is ecsta­t­ic to be bring­ing live music and the com­mu­ni­ty back to our home away from home at Birds Hill Provin­cial Park.

Tick­ets to the 2022 Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val are on sale now. Adult day tick­ets start at $80 and full week­end pass­es at $234. Fes­ti­val Camp­ground and Qui­et Camp­ground pass­es sold out in 2019 and the fes­ti­val is well on its way to sell­ing out for 2022. Tick­ets and vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties are avail­able at win​nipeg​folk​fes​ti​val​.ca.