ONLINE sales have closed. Tickets are still available at the DOOR !!
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The Carleton is honoured to be hosting Crescendo Fest Showcase 2024! Crescendo Fest is an annual festival dedicated to amplifying Black artists and their music. It has quickly become a beacon for the community, shining a light on the talents of African Nova Scotian / Black artists who have often been overlooked at festivals in Atlantic Canada.
Join us on Friday August 2nd for this amazing artist lineup: JupiterReign, Adina Fraser Marsman, and Levon The Prince. Enjoy Sounds by DJ Nasty Nuck. And a very special tribute to the Reverend Wallace Smith Sr. featuring The Sanctified Brothers.
Doors open for dinner and drinks at 5:00 pm. This special event gets underway at 7:00 pm. Tickets are only $25 +HST.
Crescendo Fest is an event designed to turn up the volume on Black music artists. For years, African Nova Scotian/Black artists have been outnumbered and overlooked at festivals within Atlantic Canada. We must now take charge and carve out our own space, focusing the spotlight on our talented music community. Home to the largest Indigenous Black community in the country, Nova Scotia is, in many ways, the birthplace of Black heritage in Canada, making it the ideal site for Crescendo Fest; a hub that will create space for other Black Music artists to engage from across Atlantic Canada.
JupiterReign, also known as Thaydra Gray, is Nova Scotia’s next rising star in R&B. She is the 2023 ANSMA Rising Star award winner, as well as 3-time ANSMA nominee, 2023 Music Nova Scotia African-Canadian Artist of the Year nominee, and as of recent, 2024 ECMA RnB/Soul Recording of the Year nominee. With her debut EP “Intergalactic”, influences can be heard from the sounds of Sza, Summer Walker, Coco Jones and Kehlani, to name a few.
Raised in North Preston, Adina Fraser Marsman has been singing since the age of 6, playing guitar since 7, and bass guitar since 11. Her performance experience has grown to include numerous shows during Nova Fest 2023 & 2024, organized by the NSCC Music Arts Program, performing alongside Keonte Beals and Jah’Mila and The Last Waltz – Marquee Ballroom 2022, Nova Scotia Music Week 2023, 2023 Evergreen Music Festival, and with Rankin MacInnis’ Winter Warmers 2024. Adina received the Portia White Youth Award at the 2021 ANSMA Awards, and the Portia White Protégé Award at the 2022 Creative Nova Scotia Awards.
Levon The Prince is the youngest rapper ever to release an album. Levon Myette-Bruce is the son of Halifax Hip Hop pioneer J-Bru, and hopes to continue the award winning ways of his family tree that started all the way back with his great grandfather, Merrill Bruce, a tap dancer who toured the world with Country music legend Hank Snow and was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. “It’s fun!” Levon told CityNews in 2022 when asked what he likes most about hip-hop.
The Sanctified Brothers (formerly known as the Deep River Boys) quickly established themselves as one of the best gospel music groups in Canada. They have performed with The Gospel Heirs, the Hallelujah Praise Choir and the late Rita MacNeil. They shake up the perceptions of gospel music with fresh twists on classics, which they infuse with elements of blues, funk and rock.
Reverend Wallace Smith Sr.: A Legacy of Faith and Music
Reverend Wallace Smith Sr. seamlessly intertwined his deep faith with his love for music, making it a defining aspect of his life from the early 1960s until his retirement in 2022. Reverend Smith, through his pure and authentic talents, pioneered church music ministry by introducing the full band ensemble to worship services and generously sharing his skills as a guitar player. In the mid-1970s, guided by divine inspiration, he co-founded The Gospel Heirs, one of Canada’s most beloved gospel groups. For nearly 30 years, The Gospel Heirs enriched the gospel music scene with their soul-stirring performances before retiring in 2003. Shortly after, Reverend Smith further solidified his impact by becoming the lead singer of The Sanctified Brothers, continuing to inspire with his powerful renditions of “Jesus Loves Me,” “Your Grace and Mercy,” and “I’m on a Mission for the King.” He was recognized with numerous accolades including the African Nova Scotian Music Association (ANSMA) Lifetime Achievement Award and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022. His life was marked by unwavering dedication, humility, and a deep desire to serve Christ and uplift others. Reverend Wallace Smith Sr. was a treasure to the African Nova Scotian Community. His enduring legacy of faith and music continues to inspire and will be remembered for generations.