Karkwa is an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada, formed in 1998.

History

Formed in 1998, the group consists of vocalist and guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier, keyboardist François Lafontaine, bass guitarist Martin Lamontagne, percussionist Julien Sagot, and drummer Stéphane Bergeron. The band's name is a phonetic rendering of ''carquois'' (French for a

quiver A quiver is a container for holding arrows or Crossbow bolt, bolts. It can be carried on an archer's body, the bow, or the ground, depending on the type of shooting and the archer's personal preference. Quivers were traditionally made of leath ...

of arrows). After reaching the final stages of the

Francouvertes Francouvertes is an annual music festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which spotlights emerging francophone and indigenous musical artists from Quebec. At the end of each year's festival, three finalists are named, following which a jury presents ...

contest in 2001, the band released its debut album, ''Le Pensionnat des établis'', in 2003. The album's single "Poisson cru" reached the top of Quebec's

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

charts, and was named the best album of the year by two critics for Montreal's alternative weekly ''

Voir ''Voir'' was a francophone alternative weekly newspaper in Montreal, Quebec, published by Communications Voir. ''Voir'' was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986. The first issue of the newspaper was published on 27 November 1986. Later o ...

''. The band's second album, ''Les Tremblements s’immobilisent'', won three

Félix Awards Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

in 2006. In 2007, they were featured, along with

The Stills The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2011. History The band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Fletcher, guitarist Gregory Paquet, bassist Olivier Corbeil and dru ...

The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes ( ) are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboa ...

and Mahjor Bidet, on the bill of Quebec Scene, a concert in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

sponsored by

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which la ...

On the third album, '' Le Volume du vent'', as the band further expanded its reach into English Canada, guest musicians included Patrick Watson and Elizabeth Powell. The album was a longlisted nominee for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize. Their fourth album, ''

Les Chemins de verre ''Les Chemins de verre'' is the fourth studio album by Québec indie rock group Karkwa. The album's title literally translates as "The Glass Pathways" or "The Glass Roads", although it is also a pun on the French language phrase ''chemins de fer' ...

'', was recorded in Paris, France. The album won the

2010 Polaris Music Prize The 2010 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 20, 2010.Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year The Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) for the best French-language album in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces ...

. In December 2011, the band announced that it would release a live album in 2012, followed by a hiatus."Karkwa Plot Live Album, Announce Hiatus"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'', December 14, 2011. The album debuted at number 25 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

. Lead singer Louis-Jean Cormier released his debut solo album, ''Le treizième étage'', in 2012. The album won Francophone Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2013. In June 2013, ''Le treizième étage'' was longlisted for the

2013 Polaris Music Prize The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23, 2013

. Percussionist Julien Sagot has also released the solo albums ''Piano mal'' (2012), ''Valse 333'' (2014), ''Bleu Jane'' (2017) and ''Sagot'' (2021). On July 7, 2018, the band performed a reunion show at the La Noce festival in Saguenay. In 2023 they announced that they had reunited to record and release a new album, '' Dans la seconde'', for release in September. The announcement was accompanied by the release of the album's first preview single, "Parfaite à l'écran", whose music video featured actress

Pascale Bussières Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Her credits include ''Sonatine (1984 film), Sonatine'' (1984), ''Eldorado (1995 film), Eldorado'' (1995), ''When Night Is Falling'' (1995), ''August 32nd on Earth (Un 32 août s ...

. The album received a Juno nomination for Francophone Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2024 The Juno Awards of 2024 were held on 24 March 2024, at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to honour achievements in Canadian music in 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year determine ...

, and was a longlisted nominee for the

2024 Polaris Music Prize The 2024 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 17, 2024 at Massey Hall. The longlist was announced on June 11, and the shortlist was released July 12. The award was won by Jeremy Dutcher for his album '' Motewo ...

."2024 Polaris Music Prize long list: the Beaches, Tobi, Elisapie, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and more"

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, June 11, 2024.

Members

Present

*Stéphane Bergeron – drums (1998–2012, 2023–Present) *Louis-Jean Cormier – guitars and vocals (1998–2012, 2023–Present) *François Lafontaine – keyboards and acoustic guitar (1998–2012, 2023–Present ) *Martin Lamontagne – bass guitar (2001–2012, 2023–Present ) *Julien Sagot – percussions and vocals (1998–2012, 2023–Present) File:Karkwa IMG 6735.jpg, Stéphane Bergeron File:Karkwa IMG 6738.jpg, Julien Sagot File:Karkwa IMG 6741.jpg, Louis-Jean Cormier

Past

*Michel Gagnon – guitars and vocals (1998–2001) *Martin Pelletier – bass guitar (1998–2001)

Discography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karkwa Musical groups established in 1998 Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups from Montreal Polaris Music Prize winners Audiogram (label) artists Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year winners 1998 establishments in Quebec