Janice Jo Lee at the West End Patio

Janice Jo Lee (she/they) is a folk musician based in Tkaronto, Ontario. She is a second generation Canadian settler and twenty-seventh generation Korean. She is a contemporary folk-roots-jazz singer songwriter, composer-sound designer, spoken word poet, theatre maker, and arts/anti-oppression facilitator. Janice is a queer femme truth-teller and satirist. She is interested in using art to build flourishing communities based in justice and joy. Her work explores gender justice, antiracism, friendship, community, ancestry and the Earth.

Lee’s new album Ancestor Song launches in 2023. Audience members describe the songs as having “hypnotic melodies, and powerful narrative themes.” Many songs depict water as a force of healing, power, drowning and destruction.

On stage she performs theatrical spoken word pieces and sweeping songs built on layers of cascading harmonies. With her guitar, looping pedal, trumpet, Korean janggu drum, disarmingly funny candour and poetically-rich lyrics, Lee commands the stage. She conjures warm energy, asks questions about our times, and leaves audiences rejuvenated and aglow.