Grounders Festival: A Showcase of Toronto’s Underground Artists Created by TMU Students
Grounders Music Festival was a one-day music event that brought together emerging indie artists from Toronto's DIY music scene. On November 4th, 2023, Grounders opened its doors at OBJX Studio, a warehouse-style loft studio located in The Junction. The festival spotlighted 9 local artists and bands during the “Daytime” and “Nighttime” portions of the event. The “Daytime” show featured Nia Nadurata (the headliner), Shoshana Glory, Emma Beckett, Sofia Aëdon, and Curt James, while the “Nighttime” portion was made up of Heavenly Blue (the headliner), City Builders, The Beans, and Jules Aucland. There was a wide range of music from acoustic indie folk to experimental electric pop. There was also food, drinks, clothes, and accessories offered by local small businesses.
At OBJX Studio, artists performed on the stage against the floor-to-ceiling windows. The first artist who performed during the “Daytime” show was Shoshana Glory alongside her band Meetcute. Not only did she perform some unreleased music, but she also covered “If You Want To” by Beabadoobee. Sofia Aëdon then sang her lungs out in a cheetah print dress while playing her signature red electric guitar. Next up was Emma Beckett, who served us with more crisp vocals. The show ended perfectly with Curt James and his band serenading the crowd with mellow tunes as the sun set.
Akshay J (@akshayisdizzy), Shoshana Glory (@shoshana.glory), Adam (@catahan) covering Beabadoobee’s song
Caption: Sofia Aëdon (@orpheuscried) and Shayan Amiri (@el_duderiino) riffing on their guitars
Caption: Emma Beckett (@emmabcktt) playing a guitar while tapping their foot on a vocal harmonizer pedal
Caption: Curt James and his band performing as the sun set
The Grounders Music Festival was made possible by the executive team, which consisted entirely of a diverse group of women and non-binary student creatives from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). They all shared the same vision of connecting the community through live music and intimate events. What started off as simply an idea by Co-Executive Producers Helen Chen and Sofia Shahbazzade came to fruition when they pitched the multi camera production as their final year thesis project. Chen and Shahbazzadeh were later joined by their TMU peers Lenny McGowan, Karensa McCarthy, Jessica Scoppelliti, Sierra Finkelshtain, and Joelle Chalfoun to bring their vision to fruition.
Congratulations to the team at Toronto Metropolitan University who organized this music festival. While this was an ambitious project, the production value was amazing and all the performers were incredibly talented!