Karkwa break through in english Canada?

Will a polaris music prize win and juno nominations help the francophone band break through in english Canada?

Karkwa are a veteran rock band in Quebec, but in Toronto they’re still playing the role of up-and-comers.

Since winning the 2010 Polaris Music Prize for Les Chemins De Verre (Audiogram), the Montreal indie rockers have enjoyed such a wave of exposure that it’s easy to forget they’ve been at it for 13 years. Hitting the road with Plants & Animals for their first proper tour of Ontario, they’re striking while the iron’s hot...

[ by Richard Trapunski Now Magazine, March 3-10, 2011]

Karkwa gaining long-overdue acceptance

When Hugh MacLennan wrote the 1945 novel Two Solitudes, he captured the division between Canada’s French and English cultures so vividly that it has become an introduction to the subject for every generation since. Yet, for all the progress that has been made to try to overcome that division, not much has occurred in the music business, where francophone artists receive little exposure outside Quebec.

A strong indication that that could change occurred last fall when Karkwa, an experimental francophone rock quintet from Montreal surprised many when its album, Les Chemins de Verre (The Glass Paths), was awarded the Canadian music critic-selected Polaris Prize over other nominees that included Broken Social Scene, Shad, and Tegan & Sara.

What those English commentators who discounted Karkwa’s chances from the start failed to realize was that the band has had critical success both in Quebec and France for over a decade, frequently drawing (perhaps unfair) comparisons to Sigur Ros and Radiohead....

[By Jason Schneider Wed Feb 23 2011, therecord.com]

Quebec band 'quivers' to increase its profile

Quebec rock band Karkwa Montreal rock band Karkwa. From left Francois Lafontaine, Louis-Jean Cormier, Stephane Bergeron, Martin Lamontagne and Julien Sagot

Sometimes, people really are “honoured just to be nominated.”

That would be the case with the Montreal alt-rock band Karkwa, who are nominated in two categories for the upcoming Juno Awards, which take place in Toronto March 27.

One of those nominations – for best French-language album of the year -- didn’t really come as a surprise. But the other – for alternative record of the year – did.

Karkwa : “like a new debut”

The T.O. Do List: March 5 & 6 

This weekend: Karkwa, Electronica Meets Orchestra, Starting From Scratch, Snowblink, Telekinesis

BY EYE WEEKLY STAFF March 05, 2011, Toronto Notes

Indie-rock lovers nationwide were stunned last September when seemingly anonymous Québécois upstarts Karkwa took home the crown jewel of Canadian music criticism, the $20,000 Polaris Music Prize. Since their formation way back in 1998, Karkwa’s music has slowly evolved into the proggy juggernaut you’ll hear on their prize-winning album, Les Chemins de verre. Though they’ve spent 10 years touring in Quebec and Europe, racking up countless ADISQ awards (Quebec’s answer to the Junos), keyboardist François Lafontaine says their newly elevated profile makes their current tour “like a new debut.”

See Karkwa play Lee's Palace (529 Bloor W) on Saturday, March 5 with Plants & Animals. $15 at RT, SS, HS, TM. 9pm.

Karkwa take on Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene at Juno Awards

If Canada tearing through the Grammy Awards last month wasn’t enough of an indication, Montreal is on a howling rampage. Wiping out Broken Social Scene and Tegan and Sara, Karkwa winning the 2010 Polaris Prize was more than just a musical milestone in Quebec history. 

Reigning as the only French-Canadian artists to have won the Polaris, the Montreal-based quintet is reshaping Canadian indie rock landscapes, opening anglophone ears everywhere they go. Up for two Junos this year, Karkwa’s fourth record is a familiar knock at folk-rock and roll. While Louis-Jean pays lyrical homage to romance, “Les Chemins De Verre” is an operatic mass and full of percussive variety. Earning two well deserved Juno nominations including ‘Alternative Album of the Year’, Karkwa’s music is clearly here to stay.