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Kyrie Kristmanson, a bilingual singer-songwriter was born in Canada. She started playing guitar at the age of nine, and has studied classical guitar and trumpet. In 2007 Kyrie was awarded the Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Young Performer. Kyrie is currently based in Lyon, France, where she is studying Medieval musicology and singing in choirs. Invited to play at the Festival Le Printemps de Bourges, France, Kyrie has also been on tour with Emily Loizeau. She is scheduled to open for fellow Canadian Hawskley Workman in London and in Paris early May.

Emperor X is a pop/noise/folk music project headed by American musician C. R. Matheny. The project often performs and records with little more than Matheny on an acoustic guitar and a dynamic microphone, but sometimes also employs large groups of musicians on percussion instruments, various electronic noisemakers, brass/woodwind/string ensembles, and traditional rock instruments. The lyrics of Emperor X songs have been described as simultaneously "hallucinatory" and "precise," and discuss subjects ranging from plate tectonics ("A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp")...

The Staves feature romantic yet impish lyrics, haunting vocal lines and virtuoso violin and cello performances. Inspired by composers ranging from Björk to Bach, The Staves whip up a lush and quirkily original concoction of string-heavy chamber music and melodious pop in service of a slightly arch sensibility. "Simple, yet intellectually challenging. Gloomy, yet beautiful. Artistically sophisticated, yet starkly presented...." (Indie-music.com)

Ska legends The Hotknives were originally formed in 1982 in England by a group of friends interested in ska, dub, reggae and Northern Soul. They recorded two live albums, "Live at the boatman" and "Live and Skanking" before recording their first studio album, "The Way Things Are" in 1989. Having reached the top of the 3rd Wave ska scene and been banned from Radio in the UK, the band decided to call it a day in 1993.