Connie Kaldor with Aleksi Campagne

Connie Kaldor—singer-songwriter, entertainer, TV personality, and women’s music pioneer—is celebrating 45 years in show business this year with her upcoming 18th recording, titled Keep Going! She began her career in folk music as part of the Canadian wave alongside artists like Stan Rogers and Valdy. Armed with her enormous stage presence, her unforgettable melodies, and her emotional depth as a songwriter, Connie became a headline act on the festival circuit. Her extensive touring has earned her a loyal fan-base that extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of folk and the Boston Globe has described her as, “a masterful performer, wildly funny one moment, deeply personal the next.” A three-time Juno Award winner, Connie is a member of the Order of Canada, a Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal recipient, holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Regina, and is the first songwriter to receive a Western Literature Association Award of Merit.

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Aleksi Campagne is uniquely qualified to offer a contemporary, indie-folk take on the time-honoured fiddle-singing tradition. When playing live, Aleksi floors audiences by singing while bowing his violin and leading his four-piece band. His original music blends folk song writing with an edgy, multi-layered sound resulting from his unique combination of voice, violin and looping-effect pedals. In a full-page spread in the Montreal Gazette, Brennan Kelly described him as “not just a folksinger with a guitar!”

He is now ready to launch his highly anticipated debut album titled For the Giving is set to launch in July 2023. The first single Won’t be Scared will launch on July 10th in English and in French. This single was selected as the only Canadian finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival’s Grassy Hill New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters (with finals to be held in person on May 26th and 27th in Texas). Thematically, this next single embodies the broader themes of the album that is about all the firsts of growing up–from first loves to first moves, the first steps of your career and even first breakups.

This album features 10 songs, but 20 tracks—each of the 10 songs are fully translated to offer a full English and a full french version (on two discs in one sleeve). To create the album, Aleksi received both a Canada Council Grant and a FACTOR Grant to fully fund the recording and its production. He then received an additional CALQ grant to create a video version of the album. This album will be launched in both audio and video formats this summer where he will debut it on a Canada-wide tour, hitting festivals like the Canmore Folk Festival, Springtide Folk Festival, the Live from the Rock Festival, Bear Creek Folk Festival, and Islands Folk Festival.

Although this will be his first full-length album, Aleksi is not new to the stage. At five years old, he began performing alongside his mother, Canadian folk icon, Connie Kaldor. At 19, Aleksi moved to Paris to study under jazz violin legend Didier Lockwood. At 21, Aleksi became the only student to have ever been accepted into the classical violin, the jazz violin and the jazz voice performance programs at McGill University. And, by 25, Aleksi had graced the lineups of some of Canada’ most beloved folk festivals—including the Mariposa Folk Festival, the Regina Folk Festival, and the Northern Lights Festival, among others.