Celebrate the northern summer at River & Sky

Bigger headliners and more emerging indie bands will take over that bend in the Sturgeon River at this year’s River & Sky Music/Camping Festival, the weekend of July 17 to 19.

B.C.’s psychedelic indie collective Black Mountain will headline the Friday night, Brooklyn’s Antibalas, a second-wave Afrobeat 12-piece ensemble, on the Saturday night, and indie-folk-rocker Hayden will close out the festival on the Sunday.

“This is by far our biggest music budget because we wanted to make our seventh year one to remember for our growing R&S community,” said festival director Peter Zwarich, in a press release.

”R&S is a weekend celebration of northern summertime culture made possible with the support of new funding from Celebrate Ontario, along with long-standing support from the Ontario Arts Council, Heritage Canada’s Arts Presentation Fund, FACTOR, SOCAN and corporate support from A&M Remediation.”

Both Polaris-finalist Black Mountain, releasing their 10th anniversary album this June, and Hayden, with his eighth record out and a Massey Hall show this year, have been on the festival’s wish list for some time, said Music Director Mark Browning. The Antibalas’ Afrobeat rhythms and large horn section will bring a new sound to the festival.

“The Antibalas played Carnegie Hall this March as the house band for the David Byrne and Talking Heads Celebration,” Browning said.

“As second wavers they’ve re-popularized the classic Afrobeat sound and along the way collaborated and played onstage with musicians like Paul Simon, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Public Enemy and Fela Kuti’s son Femi.”

Besides the headliners, R&S presents emerging music bands from across the country, adding more acts and diversity than in previous years with new DJ sets so that the weekend is filled with continuous sound and song.

From Across Canada: The Most Serene Republic (Milton), Find the Others (Toronto), Digging Roots (Barrie), Homeshake (Montreal), Adrian Teacher & the Subs (Vancouver), Blonde Elvis (Toronto), Shotgun Jimmie & the Band (Brandon, MB), Jennifer Castle (Toronto), Taylor Knox (Toronto), Bird City (Guelph), Human Music (Winnipeg), B.A. Johnston (Hamilton), Absolutely Free DJ (Saturn), Eccodek Live P.A. (Guelph).

Acts with regional ties: Polaris-nominated Kalle Mattson (Sault Ste. Marie hometown), Tim Bradford (North Bay hometown), Trille D’or winner Dayv Poulin (Sudbury), Pistol George Warren (Sudbury), Sea Perry (Sudbury), Brigitte Lebel (North Bay), Mick Futures (Sudbury), Howie Moonlight (Sudbury) and Magic Pelvis (Sudbury).

Passes cost between $25 and $150. Visit www.riverandsky.ca.