{"id":13326,"date":"2015-01-16T09:54:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T14:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=13326"},"modified":"2015-01-16T09:54:18","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T14:54:18","slug":"wanna-chill-out-igloofest-starts-tonight-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2015\/01\/16\/wanna-chill-out-igloofest-starts-tonight-in-montreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanna chill out? Igloofest starts tonight in Montr\u00e9al"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Third<\/a>

Third year of Igloofest in January 2009 in Montreal, Canada. \/ 3e \u00e9dition du Igloofest en janvier 2009 \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, Canada. Image: Francis Bourgouin<\/a>, Creatove Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

OK, I’ll admit it. I never even heard of Igloofest until today. And I won’t go either, because it’s in Montr\u00e9al, it’s at night when it’s super cold and it features music I can’t get excited over.<\/p>\n

But that’s just me. And even though I’m not going, it’s something I’m glad to know about under the category of “cultural quirks”. You know: what crazy people in super cold parts of the world do for fun.<\/p>\n

Obviously, others do find it worthwhile, as in this from Erik Leijon, in a special for the Montr\u00e9al Gazette<\/a>, who spoke with event program director Michel Quintal:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have DJs from California who think we\u2019re nuts for coming out when it\u2019s minus\u00a025 to see them,\u201d says Quintal, adding that the DJ booth is a comparatively balmy 5\u00a0to 10 degrees Celsius. \u201cMore and more we have artists come to us and say they want to play because they heard about it from a colleague\u00a0who was\u00a0here.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Igloofest presents an opportunity for electronic music artists to break the monotony of the club touring circuit, then for festival-goers, it\u2019s a defiant act against\u00a0the depressing winter doldrums. It\u2019s held annually at Jacques Cartier Pier\u00a0in the Old Port, and last year\u2019s 12-day edition was attended by more than\u00a085,000. Some nights do better than others, but Quintal says the festival, held across four weekends, isn\u2019t at the mercy of weather forecasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt amazes me that on the coldest nights we\u2019ll still get dedicated audiences that show up and are more into it than on regular nights,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom their perspective, it\u2019s part of dealing with a winter that lasts five months out of the year. Nobody wants to stay inside for five months.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I embrace winter by cross-country skiing, preferably on a sunny day when it’s not so cold my hands freeze inside my mitts. But whatever gets you through to summer, I guess! And plenty of people (usually far younger than me) do like that sort of scene.<\/p>\n

So find your bliss, be it your own community’s winter carnival<\/a>, or beating the season with thousands of fellow electric music lovers.<\/p>\n

Igloofest<\/a> runs Fri-Sat now through Feb 8th.<\/p>\n