SoundClash Festival coming to Harbourfront Centre in July

SoundClash Festival Lineup and SoundClash Music Award Shortlist Revealed!

Music festival and award celebrates blurred and expanded boundaries

July 13-15 2012

TORONTO, ON (June 13, 2012) – In 2011, Harbourfront Centre launched the SoundClash Music Award, a search for the cutting-edge musical talent bubbling just under Toronto’s surface. This year, from July 13-15, the SoundClash Festival extends those principles into a weekend of genre-defying performances from a variety of exciting performers local and international.

Like its namesake – the competitions between reggae-DJ crews in 1950s Kingston, Jamaica – The SoundClash Music Award recognizes artists who pit sounds, genres and cultures against each other, and perform diverse, contemporary and boundary-busting music. The 2012 SoundClash Music Award Short List has been decided: OPOPO, Rich Kidd, Chloe Charles, Progress and the Rebel Alliance, LAL and Gyles will perform at the festival and be judged by both our panel of musical tastemakers as well as audience members for cash and prizes worth $10,000. Meanwhile, an international assortment of artists who are pushing the envelopes of their respective fields will also appear.

Highlights of the SoundClash Festival include:

• Performances from artists including Benin funk ensemble Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, Detroit rapper Elzhi, and short-listed SoundClash Music Award artists: OPOPO, Rich Kidd, Chloe Charles, Progress and the Rebel Alliance, LAL and Gyles;
• International dance crews and DJs face off for Braggin’ Rights;
• …And more! 

Listings info is attached. For additional information and complete event listings, the public may visit harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/soundclash or call the Information Hotline at 416-973-4000. Harbourfront Centre is located at 235 Queens Quay West in the heart of downtown Toronto’s waterfront.

ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE SUMMER FESTIVALS

Harbourfront Centre is an innovative, non-profit cultural organization which provides internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education and recreation, in the heart of Toronto's downtown waterfront. Our summer festival season runs from Victoria Day weekend through Thanksgiving weekend, and features over 20 festivals and events that offer The World in One Place. For more information visit harbourfrontcentre.com/summer

ABOUT THE SOUNDCLASH MUSIC AWARD
The SoundClash Music Award is a Harbourfront Centre initiative designed to showcase Toronto’s talented, creative and forward-thinking independent musicians from across the musical spectrum. Acts performing a wide range of music have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of Toronto’s top musicians and play on Harbourfront Centre’s WestJet Stage and compete for cash prizes totaling $10,000. harbourfrontcentre.com/soundclash/award.cfm

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