The FME: 20 years of emerging music and creativity of all stripes!

A festival that’s entirely devoted to helping people discover new music!

To celebrate this achievement with a bang, the festival’s program director, Marilyne Lacombe, focused on what the FME is known for, that is to say, an event devoted to musical discovery.

“It would have been too easy to fall back on nostalgia. That’s why we chose to focus our programming on the fact that we are a festival dedicated to discovery. After two years of the pandemic, we wanted to invite some international acts to take part in the festival again, and frankly, we didn’t hold back. Of course, the Animal Collective show on Saturday, September 3 is going to be huge. Thanks to the many contacts we’ve made over the last twenty years, we managed to book this great neo-psychedelic band with an electro twist. We also took the opportunity to invite a whole host of artists from the Maritimes. There will be performances by Lisa LeBlanc, Les Hay Babies, Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire, Julie Doiron, P’tit Belliveau, and many more!”

The FME is much more than just emerging music!

This year, the organizers had the innovative idea of bringing together all the visual creations and artifacts that were conceived over the past twenty years in relation to the festival. Throughout the city of Rouyn-Noranda, each work will be accompanied by an interpretation panel along a scenic route. Festival-goers can then scan a QR code that will lead to a web page with more detailed information about the installation.

“For us, there was no better way to celebrate our 20th anniversary than by showcasing the visual elements and artifacts we’ve created. Of course, the whole radio/podcast component is stronger than ever. We’ve also moved the outdoor site from 7e Rue to Murdoch Avenue. For the occasion, visual artist Marc Séguin created a special piece for us featuring a unicorn with a heart. The set design team responsible for developing the sites was of course greatly inspired by his work while decorating the festival’s stages and venues,” Magali Monderie-Larouche, general director of the FME, explains enthusiastically.

Obviously, in the current inflationary context, there were many organizational challenges. Despite the increase in production costs, airfare to bring in international artists, and the labour shortage, with setup and teardown crews being the hardest hit, the FME team has managed to present an exceptional musical program enhanced with some entertaining related activities.

We can only salute this event, which, after 20 years of existence, has won no less than 4 Félix awards at the ADISQ gala in recent years. And that’s not counting the hundreds of music industry workers who come to Rouyn-Noranda every year to discover our next favourite artists.

If you’re a music fan or if you simply want to discover a creative corner of the country that has a lot to offer, we strongly suggest that you go to Rouyn-Noranda on Labour Day weekend. Who knows? You might just make a habit of it.

To take a look at the schedule, click here.