Karkwa

Although Karkwa issued just three albums across the Canadian ensemble’s opening ten years, the group attracted widespread critical praise and became the first francophone act to claim the Polaris Music Prize. The band came together in 1998 when singer/guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier, keyboardist François Lafontaine, bassist Martin Lamontagne, drummer Stephane Bergeron, and percussionist Julien Sagot joined forces. Recognition arrived swiftly after the quintet was selected to appear at Paris’s Printemps du Quebec Festival in 1999. Following a short hiatus for separate side endeavors, Karkwa reached the finals of the 2001 Francouvertes competition, which generated further live dates and yielded the 2003 debut Le Pensionnat des Établis (Boarding School of the Establishment). That record earned strong notices and topped college-radio playlists.

After extensive touring behind their first album, the band delivered its sophomore effort, Les Tremblements S’Immobilisent (The Tremors Come to a Halt), in 2005. Multiple Felix Awards followed in 2006, after which Karkwa spent the closing months of 2007 on the road in Europe before resurfacing with Le Volume du Vent (The Volume of the Wind) in 2008. Their greatest breakthrough arrived with the 2010 release Les Chemins de verre, an album that drew enthusiastic notices and secured the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.