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Aleksi CampagneAleksi Campagne is a Canadian singer-songwriter, who won the Canadian Folk Music Award for French Songwriter of the Year at the 19th Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2024 for his album For the Giving / Sans rien donner.[1] CareerFor the Giving / Sans rien donner, released in 2023, is a 20-song double album, featuring ten songs in both English and French versions.[2] Although fluently bilingual, he collaborated with his aunt Michelle Campagne to translate the lyrics into French due to the complications inherent in translating song lyrics, which must sometimes be translated thematically rather than literally due to the need to conform to the original song's melody and rhythm. Le Devoir gave the album a favourable review, comparing its blend of folk, jazz and indie pop influences to both Patrick Watson and Half Moon Run.[2] Aleksi released For the Giving / Sans rien donner on 13 July 2023.[3] That same month, Aleksi was selected as a Mariposa Folk Festival Emerging Artist and performed at the festival.[4] In December 2022, his single "Another Day" was picked by Paul Corby as a Top Single of 2022.[5] In January 2023, Aleksi and his brother Gabriel were invited to perform for a Canadian citizenship ceremony.[6] In March 2023, radio host Tom Coxworth picked Aleksi as one of the Top 5 Favourite acts at the Folk Alliance International Conference.[7] In May 2023, he became the only Canadian finalist in that year's Kerrville Folk Festival’s Grassy Hill New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters.[8] On October 12, 2023, an episode about Aleksi’s music aired on the program Path to Creation directed by Igal Hecht.[9] In 2021, he was featured on the album La Famille Campagne – Noël En Famille.[10] He released a self-titled ep in 2018.[11] He also performs with his mother as both a supporting musician in her band and an opening act.[12] In 2017, Aleksi performed with the French children’s performance group Tam Ti Delam across Canada alongside artists Geneviève Toupin and Annick Brémault.[13] As a child, Aleksi is credited on three of his aunt Carmen Campagne’s children’s albums, including La Vache En Alaska (1995), Enchantée (1997) and Sur la Ferme de Grand-Père (2012).[14] AdvocacyAccording to Billboard Canada, Aleksi was invited to perform for the environmental pressure group Music Declares Emergency for a concert on March 17, 2024 to Honour Neil Young and Joni Mitchell for their “commitments to environmental advocacy and awareness.”[15] On April 7, 2024, in his acceptance speech at the Canadian Folk Music Awards Aleksi dedicated his CFMA win for his bilingual album to “all those who speak more than one language.”[16] His promotion of multilingualism in Canadian music builds on the activism of his family. His father, Paul Campagne, was a member of the bilingual band Hart Rouge with his sisters Michelle, Annette and Suzanne.[17][18] ActingIn 2017, he played a wedding violinist in one episode of the Quebecois TV show Les Pays d'en Haut.[19] Personal lifeThe son of folk musicians Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne,[12] he studied classical and jazz violin in university.[20] References
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