Big Balade

It's with a name predestined for a Balade in Toronto that Franco-Ontarian sextet Big Balade comes to town. The band takes a ride on a streetcar and talks about their beginnings and the friendship that unites its members. They arrive at the popular and colourful Kensington Market, where they go on a scavenger hunt in one of the many thrift stores in the area. It's about the dynamics within the group, which follows a collaborative and participatory process that gets everyone involved, and the often constraining reality of balancing work and personal life that members of such a large group must juggle. The six artists gather for a meal at the Lahore Tikka House restaurant in Little India before ending their visit with a game of bubble soccer at Canoe Landing Park overlooking downtown. The group played three songs, including 'Levons nos voix', the theme song for the 400th anniversary of the Francophone presence in Ontario, which they wrote and composed with a real Franco-Ontarian flair.