International artist Wyclef Jean will be making his only Canadian festival appearance this summer at the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival on Sunday, September 4th.
With over 35 million albums sold to date, the Haitian singer, musician, songwriter, actor and producer will perform his greatest hits pulled from an illustrious career spanning more than three decades.
Wyclef made his mark in 1996 with the Fugees and the release of The Score, which included the songs “Fu-Gee-La”, “Killing Me Softly”, “Ready or Not” and “No Woman, No Cry”. A year later, he followed up with The Carnival, which celebrates its quarter century this year and features ”Guantanamera”, ”Gone till November” and ”We Trying to Stay Alive” among other hits. With 9 solo albums to his credit, Wyclef Jean has been involved in many surprising collaborations, with such artists as Young Thug, Michael Jackson, Queen, Paul Simon, Bono, will.i.am and Kenny Rogers, to name but a few. Four more huge hits have come from such collaborations, ‘Maria Maria’ with Santana (1999), ‘911’ with Mary J. Blige (2000), ‘Hips don’t lie’ with Shakira (2006) and ‘Sweetest Girl’ with Akon, Lil Wayne and Niia (2007).
Having dabbled in many styles throughout his career, from hip-hop to reggae and from RnB to Soul, the singer returns with a new sound in 2022, which he dubs Vodou Drill. The first single “Voye dlo” (May 2022) is sung in Creole and demonstrates the artist’s commitment to the people of Haiti.
A massive hip-hop party awaits on Sunday, September 4th, as the FMG will also host Koriass and Souldia with special guest Sarahmée, as well as Fredz, Pelch, Mindflip, Claudia Bouvette and Mélisane. The evening will also be punctuated by the hot air balloons taking flight, the nightly illumination of hot air balloons and the spectacular fireworks display presented by Michel Quesnel.
Sarahmée performs during the Canada Day Celebrations in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
5-day passes are available now for $49.99 + taxes and daily passes for $29.99 + taxes. Enhance your experience with Front Stage Access for only $14.99 + tax. Details at fmg2022.com
See you there!
