By Will McGuirk
Hillside returns to Guelph Island Conservation Area July 18 through to 20, 2025, and it’s an international affair.
There are a variety of ticket sales available including senior (65+), youth (13-24) and kids under 12 are free. Tickets here ->
This fave fest always manages to marry up the act local think global in such innovative and sustainable ways. There are so many great artists playing this year and we will run a few more posts on them but for now here’s a big big five that alone would make it worth it.
First came to my attention via his collaboration album with Khruangbin titled ‘Ali’. Referred to as the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara’ Vieux Farka Touré is the son of the late Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, famous for his desert blues. The album ‘Ali’ is Vieux’s interpretation of his father’s songs. Vieux is also the director of The Ali Farka Touré Foundation, an international organization dedicated to the preservation of Ali’s legacy and the cultural growth of Mali.
Les Mamans du Congo, led by singer and percussionist Gladys Samba, began in 2018 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. COmprised of five mothers the group sings Lari and uses found objects such as forks, plates, and pestles.
Etran de L’Aïr (or “stars of the Aïr region”) is a family band composed of brothers and cousins, all born and raised in the small neighborhood of Abalane, in Agadez, Niger. Formed in 1995 Etran de L’Aïr play in a pan-African style citing a myriad of cultural influences, from Northern Malian blues, Hausa bar bands, to Congolese Soukous.
The Gama brothers and their band Son Rompe Pera, from Naucalpan, Mexico City, are responsible for developing and coining the now-global genre ‘Cumbia Punk’, an infectious mix of marimba and punk ethos. The Gama brothers began playing and performing the marimba when they were kids alongside their father, Batuco, but rejected the notably un-cool and tourist-shop-bound instrument out of embarrassment, turning instead to punk. However their roots grew back as they played in punk and psychobilly bands ultimately returning to the traditional but blending in what they learnt from punk.
Femi Kuti’s music blends funk, jazz, and highlife into a potent political force, carrying on his father Fela Kuti’s legacy of Afrobeat as a force for change. Femi began in Fela’s Egypt 80 before starying his own band, Positive Force, in 1986, adding hip hop and R&B elements to Afrobeat transporting one to the heart of Nigerian cultural resistance and celebration.