Skip to main content

You make this possible. Support our independent, nonprofit newsroom today.

Give Now

Vancouver hosts 'Bumbershoot with a Canadian twist' ahead of JUNO Awards

caption: Canadian artists will perform in venues across Vancouver for Juno Fest March 23-24
Enlarge Icon
Canadian artists will perform in venues across Vancouver for Juno Fest March 23-24
Flickr Photo/ericncindy24(CC BY-SA 2.0)/https://flic.kr/p/6bxYNG

Canada is having its equivalent of the Grammy Awards this weekend. Our neighbors to the north call it the JUNO Awards.

Vancouver, B.C. is celebrating by hosting JUNOfest this weekend.

Grant Lawrence, a host and producer with CBC music, said JUNOfest is "kind of like Bumbershoot meets the Grammys, but with a Canadian twist."

"It's a whole bunch of JUNO-nominated artists performing in various clubs and theaters all over the city, but there's also a bunch of up and coming artists, wannabe JUNO nominees that are playing," he said.

Grant highlights one of those up and coming artists that will perform at JUNOfest: Louise Burns. She's a veteran of Vancouver's music scene who got her start in an all teenage band called Lillix in the late 1990s.

That band eventually got signed on to Madonna's record label. Burns is now creating her own solo music, but you can still hear that Madonna influence.

"The music that she performs mines 80s pop, 90s twee and modern layered synths," Lawrence said.

You can see Louise Burns perform Friday at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver. JUNOfest is happening March 23-24. The JUNO Awards will be broadcast Sunday, March 25.

Why you can trust KUOW