 | Saturday, July 05, 2025 | |  | Saturday, July 05, 2025 | |  | Fun news: the second edition of the Reverie Indigenous Music Residency launched this week, following its inaugural session last fall.
The four-week-long residency, co-sponsored by CBC and the SOCAN Foundation, brings First Nations, Métis and Inuit musicians to Toronto to make music, gain industry insights and take the next step in their careers. This year's residency includes Sara Kae (Red Rock Indian Band/Lake Helen First Nation), Raymond Sewell (Pabineau First Nation), Jessa Sky (Métis Cree from Treaty 8 Territory) and Big Tones (based in Saskatoon, with ties to Treaty 4 Territory/Pasqua First Nation/George Gordon First Nation). You can find out more about them in these mini profiles.
“It’s been amazing creatively because I've had the resources and the time to kind of dream in my own way,” said Logan Staats, of his time in Reverie last year. While we won’t hear new music from the 2025 cohort for some time, you can see more of what last year’s artists accomplished via CBC Music’s YouTube page.
And while summer’s in full swing, let us remind you: there are so many music festivals you won’t want to miss this season. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | As people celebrated Canada Day earlier this week, we asked artists what the perfect Canadian song is — and their answers were a fun throwback to the late ’90s and early 2000s. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Speaking of nostalgia: if you didn’t get a chance to watch the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa that featured Sarah McLachlan, Amanda Marshall, Mitsou and Roch Voisine, we have some good news — you can experience it all from CBC Music’s YouTube page. You might think that, nearly 30 years after its release, Building a Mystery wouldn’t hit so hard, but you’d be wrong. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Students at Toronto Metropolitan University will have the chance to learn more about the growth of Punjabi music next fall, thanks to a new course that will mainly focus on Diljit Dosanjh, an Indian singer, actor and film producer who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Korean Canadian cellist Joanne Yesol Choi is the 2025 recipient of the Virginia Parker Prize, a $30,000 award given to a conductor, classical singer or instrumentalist below the age of 32 "who demonstrates outstanding talent, musicianship and artistic merit, and who makes a valuable contribution to artistic life in Canada and internationally." | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Who is Orville Peck? The masked cowboy crooner first galloped onto the scene with his 2019 debut album, Pony — and he’s been subverting American country music tropes ever since. The country music artist is just one of 101 queer Canadian artists celebrated in the CBC Arts Super Queeroes series. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | The show that celebrates the history of R&B dives deep into the blues this week, digging into its defiant and ever-evolving influence on contemporary R&B. You’ll hear music from Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton (pictured, on the right, with Nina Simone in the middle and Rouè-Doudou Boicel), Harrison Kennedy, Nas and Ndidi O. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Tune in to the Top 20 this week for an encore presentation of the show’s Junos special, ranking the 20 best songs to have ever won the Juno Award for single of the year. Over the years, single-of-the-year winners have included everyone from Bachman-Turner Overdrive to Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado to Nickelback, Terry Jacks to Tate McRae, as well as the all-time leader in overall Juno wins, Anne Murray. But to see who made our all-time list, and which song ranks No. 1, you’ll have to listen in. | | | | | | | Thanks so much for joining us for this issue of Listen Up! If you loved it, feel free to let us know at listenup@cbc.ca — and use the same email if you have questions or suggestions. Please share it with your friends, family and even enemies via cbc.ca/listenup. | | | |
