Montreal has been called The most European city in North America. This Canadian city is located in the French-speaking province of Quebec and is a hotbed of artistic and cultural activities year round.

Although it is mostly populated by French speaking Québécois, it has a sizeable group of English speakers and a fast growing immigrant population from Africa & North Africa, the French Caribbean, Latin America, China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, the Arab world and several European countries.

There are two types of music of interest to World Music aficionados: The Folk music from Quebec is known as Québecois and it has strong connections with the Celtic cultures of Europe as well as Acadian. Other musical styles found in Montreal have been brought by immigrants from other nations. Mexican-American singer Lhasa is probably the best known import. A popular Dominican merengue artist, Joaquín Díaz, is based in Montreal, as well as many other noted World Music artists and bands.

The arts weeklies come out on Thursday mornings: The Montreal Mirror (English), Hour (English), Voir (French), and Ici (French). Record stores:

Several excellent record stores are located in Montreal aside from the unavoidable HMV type stores. One should definitely check out Archambault (4 locations throughout the city) which has an amazing World Music, Folk & Jazz selection as well as a wide variety of books. The main store which is located on the corner of Ste Catherine Street East & rue Berri also sells fine musical instruments as well as sheet music.

There are many second hand record stores in Montreal which are worth checking out for hard to find albums & discs. Crazy Rhythms on Metcalfe St. is definitely a must-go. There are a lot of used record stores (L’Échange, le Tourne-Livre and many more) on Mont-Royal East not far from the metro station.

Several well known companies are based in Montreal. Distribution Fusion III is one of the largest independent distributors in Canada, with a large catalogue of Jazz and World Music titles. Its record label arm, Justin Time Records produces Jazz recordings.

• Cross Current International is run by world music producer Patrick Darby.
• Oliver Sudden Productions has Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Flamenco and Paraguayan releases.
• Foulespin Musique Inc.
• Indica Records
• Les Disques AudioGram
• La Tribu

As in other Canadian cities, Montreal has several large Folk and Jazz festivals which feature World Music among their varied musical fares (i.e. The Montreal International Jazz Festival, Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, Festival Nuits d’Afrique, the Montreal Reggae Festival, Festival Musiques Multi-Montréal, Musiques & Traditions du Monde, Festival du Monde Arabe, La Nuit du Maghreb).

These two festivals are amongst the largest in the world. The 25th edition of the Jazz Festival (12 days at the end of June/beginning of July) which took place in the Summer of 2004 brought in close to 2 million festival-goers and featured a total of 880 indoor and free outdoor performances with top international artists.

The 16th edition of Les FrancoFolies de Montréal (11 days at the end of July/beginning of August) which specialize in music coming from all over the Francophone world brought in a crowd of 950.000 people and presented 300 indoor & free outdoor performances.

Contact for both events: 822 Sherbrooke Est, Montreal, Qc, H2L 1K4, Canada. Phone: +1 (514) 523-3378.

Festival Nuits D'Afrique. This large world music festival takes place the second week of July every year.

The Montreal Celtic Festival celebrates the common historical bonds that the traditional music of Quebec and the rest of Canada share with music from the Old Countries.

The Montreal Arab World Festival (Festival du Monde Arabe) presents works in its three fields: Performing Arts, Culture Fair and Film Festival.

• Fleming Artist Management
• Immigrant Music represents artists from Haiti, Greece and other world cultures.
• Philmultic Management Productions

An exhaustive list of all of Montreal & Quebec management and booking agencies as well as venues, sound & light and record companies can be obtained through an organization called Rideau.

• CKUT 90.3FM (Radio Mc Gill – Free form programming in several languages though mostly English speaking)
• CIBL 101.5FM (Free form programming in French)
• CINQ 102.3FM (Radio-Centreville – Programming in several languages)
• CISM 89.3FM (Université de Montréal – Free form programming in French)
• Radio-Canada / Espace Musique 100.7FM (Radio-Canada’s new music channel)
• CBC 89.1FM (Canadian Broadcast Corporation – all English programming)
• Global Village / Musiques du Monde/World Music (World Music Satellite & Cable Channel)
• Galaxie Network - Station GX-20.

• Ballatou in the Plateau Mont-Royal district is a well-known club that features African music
• Cabaret Music Hall is a popular old-fashioned venue
• Café Sarajevo, a cafe in the Latin Quarter (Quartier Latin) presents world music and jazz
• Keur Samba, in the Plateau Mont-Royal district, presents African and South American music, as well as Reggae
• Quai des Brumes. This popular cafe presents blues, jazz and other styles

• Le Spectrum
• Le Métropolis
• Club Soda
• Kola Noté
• Le Va et Vient
• Café-Campus
• Les Bobards
• Casa Del Popolo
• Le Corona
• Le Lion D’Or
• Le Medley
• O Patro Vys
• Sala Rossa
• The Yellow Door, Montreal's longest running folk music venue.
• Zeke’s Gallery

• Montreal Folk Club
• Conseil Francophone de la Chanson supports and promotes the music of the French-speaking countries.
• Folquebec promotes Quebec folk music.
• L’Équipe Spectra produces various music festivals.

Steve’s Music sells guitar, brass, winds, percussion, etc. on St Antoine Street between Rue St Urbain and Boulevard St Laurent.

Italmelodie on Jean-Talon St East (check out the Jean-Talon Market while you’re at it, it’s great!).

• L’École des Arts de la Veillée

The University of Montreal has an Ethnomusicology program affiliated with the Music Department.

• The McCord Museum of Canadian History. Located in downtown Montreal
• The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Le Musée des Beaux-Arts)
• Musée de la Pointe-à-Callières (Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History)
• The Chateau Ramezay, an historic building, opened its doors as a museum in 1895, making it the oldest private history museum in Quebec
• Canadian Centre for Architecture (Centre Canadien d'Architecture). An international research center and museum dedicated to architecture
• Le Biodôme recreates some of the most beautiful ecosystems of the Americas
• The Montreal Botanical Garden (Le Jardin Botanique de Montréal)

Articles about Montreal: Montreal, A City Ripe for World Music

Nouveau Musique Québécois : Bone-Tapping Melodies

This guide was contributed by Dan Behrman, with additional research by Angel Romero