Sunfest Organizers In London, Ont. Say ‘Music Will Go On’ Regardless
‘Music will go on’ at Sunfest
Currently, the world is in a tangle, with flights being canceled all over. However, the organizers of London, Ont.’s top international music festival are navigating their way through travel concerns. This comes as musicians heading to the city face delays, cancellations and baggage issues at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Around 20 music groups are traveling on international flights for the event in the coming days. In fact, they will be coming from such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, South Korea and Spain. Most of the musicians are traveling through Pearson. Meanwhile, Sunfest is set to start on Thursday, July 7, at Victoria Park in London and will run across the weekend.
Sunfest ‘crossing fingers and toes’
Speaking of the problems, Mercedes Caxaj, Artistic Co-Director of Sunfest made a statement as follows:
The flight issues, luggage issues and visa issues, I mean, it’s very nerve-racking – and it’s a logistical puzzle, jigsaw puzzle, that hopefully we can make the best of.
We’re just crossing our fingers and toes, hoping for the best.
Meanwhile, Sunfest organizes all of the musician’s travel from flight bookings, and airbus shuttles right through to hotel bookings. According to Caxaj, some of the bands still don‘t have their visas, due to processing delays. This includes La Mambanegra from Colombia and DakhaBrakha from Ukraine.
We’ve seen these issues in the past before. We always have hope up until pretty much the day before.
Meanwhile, Mercedes has been the artistic co-director of Sunfest for a decade and started volunteering when she was just eight years of age. In fact, the other artistic co-director is her father, Alfredo Caxaj, who founded the famous music festival.
Mercedes said there is nothing that could make them more excited than to get back into this week. She said that Sunfest gathers Londoners and out-of-towners to “celebrate life through amazing music from all over the world.
Sunfest 2022
As noted by CBC, this year, the music festival will attract more than 40 bands from across Canada and around the world on five different stages. Moreover, food and artisan goods will be on sale by some 200 vendors. However, “thanks” to the pandemic, this is the first in-person Sunfest in three years.
Meanwhile, the music festival will open on Thursday and Friday with Eagle Flight Singers, a traditional first nation group based in London. Mercedes noted that it wouldn’t be Sunfest without them, adding:
Just to open up our festival with them every year is something that we cherish so much.
Once that drum starts hitting, people are going to be really excited and really feel the beginning of the festival.
Caxaj went on to say that, regardless of the travel problems that arise, organizers are still confident the festival will come together.
I think Londoners are all just excited to be out and celebrate and be in an outdoor environment, having their favorite beverage, eating their favorite food, being out in the sun, dancing to live music.
‘No matter what, the music will go on,” Mercedes added.
Learn more about Sunfest on the music festival’s official website here
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