Montreal, the biggest city in Quebec, Canada's French province.

It's an island surrounded by the Saint Lawrence River, named after the triple peaked hill at its center.

Mount Royal.

The vibe here?

It's all about art, culture and music.

This city has museums and universities for days.

But what really stands out is how it nurtures creativity and self-expression.

Music runs deep in these streets, shaping a legacy of songwriters, producers and creators who found their voices right here.

Oh, and fun fact, the bagels in Montreal, legendary.

Better than New York's, they say.

So yes, the food and museums are incredible.

But skipping out on this city's thriving music scene, that would be a tragedy.

♪ ♪ -His poetry was born here.

♪ ♪ Bonjour!

-Hello.

Hello.

How are you?

I tried to speak French!

[French greetings] Let me introduce you to someone who knows Montreal's music scene inside and out.

Laurent Saulnier.

Forgive my French accent.

Okay.

Laurent is the founder of the Montreal Franco Music Festival and Jazz Fest, and we've kind of become friends.

-The first concert here was Stevie Wonder.

June 30th, 2009.

-Wow, you know the full day.

-I was there.

I booked this show.

I know.

-Laurent knows everything about Montreal's music culture, and he's played a huge role in bringing more diverse acts to Jazz Fest.

We chat in Place des Arts, where it all goes down during the festival.

What were some of your principles in selecting artists and deciding who you wanted to play, and how you were going to curate the festival?

The real name is Festival International, the Jazz de Montréal.

So the festival part was important.

The international part was very important.

The jazz part for sure, but also the Montreal part of it, because there so many people coming from all over the world.

During those ten days, we have to shine.

Montreal is a real music town.

Since, I don't know, I'm 61.

Shh Nobody will believe you.

Since I'm a teenager I'm always listening to music that came from Montreal.

You know, certainly Oscar Peterson, for example, you know, Leonard Cohen, you know, those big names.

But there was two hot discotheques in the world, Studio 54 in New York City.

And The Limelight here in Montreal.

[music] How would you say Montreal's sound has changed?

One of the most important thing for me is there's new Montreal sound.

It's a small city, eh?

Montreal is around 2 million people, something like that.

It's not that large.

You cannot go to The convenience store without saying hi to a musician or singer whoever.

Yeah, it's similar in Austin.

It's everywhere.

Except it's it's there's not really grants or any funding in it.

No, because the business is more important than the culture for a long time.

Here the business was more important than the culture.

Since maybe 15 or 20 years.

The culture is not more important, but the government is, more, into the culture.

If you want to keep Austin weird, maybe we can keep Montreal cool.

That feels right.

Or Austin just needs to start speaking French and it'll be cool.

To get deeper into Montreal's vibe, I head out to meet Elisapie, an incredible singer songwriter.

Hello!

Hello.

You look beautiful.

Oh, you too.

This is where I've learned to, I don't know, explore life and become a woman.

Because I've been here for over 20 years.

Wow.

So it's really home.

It's really home.

Born in the remote village of Salluit.

Way up in Nunavik.

Only accessible by plane.

Elisapie is a voice of her people An emblematic Inuk singer-songwriter.

[music] Her connection to her land and her language, Inuktitut, is woven into everything she creates.

-I feel like I didn't really believe as an Inuk girl that you can be a singer, but maybe now kids are more able to say, “yes, we can,” because they see me.

They see more and more, you know?

What's really special is when you go towards Mount Royal... -As we explore the neighborhood where Leonard Cohen used to live, she orients me to the land and helps me feel the legacy of one of Montreal's most iconic residents.

Leonard Cohen's poetry still lingers in these streets like a quiet hum in the background.

Leonard Cohen is, is our huge, huge, huge pride.

And his poetry really was born here.

I think he was the first poet who puzzled me.

Okay.

You know where you hear these lines and you're like, that makes sense.

Why does that make sense?

Yes.

Leonard had that humility.

You know, he was just.

I don't need much.

I have my tea, my paper, and this is his cafe, Bagel, Etc.

You guys have to go there.

Just go inside, please.

Yeah, we will.

Of course.

And it was very special to see the way he died.

It was very secretive.

Nobody knew that he had passed on.

You cover his song.

Hey, that's no way to say goodbye on this record.

Translating Leonard song felt like so natural.

It's almost when I heard it for the first time, I was.

It went through my body and my spirit and my in my head.

It, almost became an Inuktitut song already.

Wow.

That's what's great is when you think about your past or the North and you're here having that contrast sometimes maybe help you to really reflect, you know, so the Leonard Cohen song, it's a beautiful love song.

And I love the fact that Inuit are listening to this song because it's the perfect love song about being free in love, you know what I mean?

So and I think that's a very indigenous mentality, even Inuit mentality.

I'm starting to feel it.

The way Montreal blends past and future culture and identity all through its music.

[singing softly] Then there's Dominique Fils-Aimé born and raised in Montreal.

Dominique fuzes, blues, jazz and soul.

In a way that is totally her own.

Her music feels rooted in history, but it speaks to the here and now.

-One thing about Montreal is construction.

-Yeah.

-I had that in front of my house for like four years, and I actually to make peace with it, I started recording it and trying to make beats and make music because otherwise it's just noise.

So at least I'm like, “okay, now you're going to become an instrument,” You know?

-I read that you do all your backing vocals.

-I do.

I love it.

-So cool.

-So much fun.

It's my favorite part.

They have different intonations and like, sounds like a whole choir.

The first time I heard, I felt like I could see so many people singing with you.

Yeah, creating loops, then finding the harmony and the friction when you miss the notes, or the intentional friction or the harmonies, how they can combine.

It's a magical feeling that I just can't get enough of.

Now.

Do you have a daily practice that you do to cultivate this sense of patience and presence?

Because I can, like, feel it on you.

It's very nice.

The psychological and the spiritual world are great, but you need to be able to bring it down to the roots.

Yeah, and plants do that.

Taking care of them, just looking at them every day.

We are little plants, aren't we?

Yeah I'm definitely I need the sun.

I need the water.

The same needs we have feeling like we need to feel connected to one another.

The way to communicate with each other, all these things apply to us.

They've been my greatest teachers in the past few years.

One thing that I love about Montreal is definitely the collaborative aspect.

I would not be where I am if it weren't for certain structures.

Community is one of them.

Le Cypher.

They're all like, hang out of musicians and jams.

There's so much about music and arts in general that is valuable in for the health of a society.

-It's also when you look at history, you can really see a clearer picture.

When you look at art as a historical story.

Yeah, you have the books to tell you the dates and the places and who did what, but the emotion and how people went about it and how they felt.

It's all a collective memory that is trapped in the arts, and that's something you cannot find anywhere else really.

[singing in French] To understand a city's sound, you have to understand its people, their history, their stories, and the echoes they leave behind.

Resonance blossoms out of the current happenings of the artists and curators within a city's borders.

Who walked these streets before me, and how did their experiences impact the ones that I'm having today?

After a hot Texas summer, Autumn in Montreal is a dream, and the pastries unmatched.

Another highlight meeting Calamine.

Hello.

Hi.

It's nice meeting you.

Don't be fooled by her soothing moniker.

Calamine's hypnotic beats and fearless, anti-capitalist lyrics pack a punch.

[singing in French] -I mean, it has a lot of social implications.

Change and like, you just feel cool when you listen to it.

Exactly like I make music that I want people to just be vibing with.

We decided to stay independent from like big labels and for like my kind of like political, super queer, critical of the industry kind of music.

It's good that I can get some money somewhere.

-One of the coolest things about being an artist in Canada is the ample amount of financial support government grants give musicians like Calamine room to experiment and really discover their sound.

But like some people, they criticize this.

Like I heard some like rappers, they're like, if you need like that government money to make your music, you didn't really make it right.

But I'm like, is the fact that, like selling more music, does it make it better music really?

Or like this is a question I asked myself, I don't know, would there be any reason not to take government money?

Like are there any restrictions it places on your art?

I really made the music that I wanted to do that's pretty edgy and like criticizing the system, criticizing politically and like nobody said anything.

Like they don't mind.

[singing] The local band, Little Misty are my next tour guides.

Hello.

Good to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Kathryn.

Francois.

Maybe we should go inside for audio?

Or is it okay with the screaming?

I like the screaming.

It's quiet right now.

It's very quiet.

We visit the FACE School, Fine Arts Core Education, a school where kids from kindergarten through secondary five dive into visual arts, drama, music and dance.

Francophones and anglophones learn together in their native languages.

We find a cozy place to chat in the theater where Kathryn performed when she attended school here, and I get a sense of how deeply ingrained the arts are in this city.

-There are more music schools and then the scene can absorb.

They are like an army of musicians.

Why do you think that is?

It's a cultural hub in the country, I guess.

Maybe because there's like a cultural thing going on with the Francophone and the Anglophone community historically.

And then I know that you performed with Cirque du Soleil when you were a youth.

How old were you?

-When I started with Cirque, I was 13, so yeah, I went on tour from 13 to almost 15 years old, but I mean, without FACE, like, I don't think I would have have developed this love for singing for sure.

So it also helps develop professionalism, like to actually be a working musician here?

Yes, absolutely.

♪ ♪ We're just practicing.

I know, I love it.

[singing] You should've seen the clouds gathering... Heard the sounds of thunder... Little Misty invite me to their studio where they write and record new music.

[singing] Does this place have a name?

Yeah, it's a bit silly, though.

It's called Don de Piano.

So it's like the gift of a piano because it came with the piano.

So it was a free piano.

It's a free piano in this piece.

And I thought nobody would imagine that it would become a real studio at some point.

So.

[singing] new seasons spinning free...

Musicians.

It's a hard life to choose.

-Yeah.

-It's it's super fun, but the reality of it is it is a hard life.

And we started this project pretty late.

We're late bloomers to start a band, I guess we started like 30 and we've both been working extensively, like a lot of different bands and a lot of different styles of music for like the past 15 years now.

Would you ever see yourself leaving Montreal, or do you feel like..?

I don't think we'll ever leave.

I think, yeah, I think we're just really glad to live here.

There's just quality of life and we can do music and not necessarily have to have a side job.

Right.

I know that's not the reality.

Like in Toronto and in New York.

And I mean here, Montreal, it's pretty.

It's okay..

Feels.

Very supportive here where I'm like, we could definitely use some of this philosophy.

♪ ♪ Standing on Mount Royal, I reflect on how no building in the city is allowed to be taller than this hill.

It feels like a metaphor.

[Inuit music] Montreal is a place where history, nature, and creativity are all on an equal playing field, and they serve as a monument that can be felt throughout the city.

It's no wonder John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their famous “Bed-in” here.

Inspired by it all, I start to write a song of my own.

♪ ♪ [singing] ...from way up here, are taller than you'll ever be.

Songs are how we tell our stories and connect to our past.

But what about the future?

That's where Skawennati comes in She's an artist and an urban Mohawk woman who creates virtual worlds to reimagine indigenous identities.

In the past, you know, cameras were in the hands of usually white men telling their stories about us.

The images that you would see of indigenous people were always like sepia toned pictures of us and Edward Curtis style, nameless and voiceless often.

But it's like, if that's all we see, everyone really are like, oh, you know, we belong.

In the past.

I was like, I don't think so.

I don't want it to be like that.

-Her projects like Cyber Powwow and Time Traveler are groundbreaking, blending history with a vision of what's to come.

-You know, when I first started in Second Life, the skin colors, nobody was darker than me, right?

Okay.

And then slowly, as the world grew and more creators came in there, you could get different skin color people.

You can also make like pink people.

So this is actually me dressed as one of the characters I created in Second Life.

Sky-Woman from our creation story.

I mean, the story says she comes from a place beyond the heavens.

So I figured that must be another planet, right?

And, you know, they're kind of alien, but I still want them to be humanoid because she is our ancestor.

And then this one is my avatar.

XOX she's a cool urban Kanien'kéha woman and a cyberpunk.

So I'm going to show you what I'm up to.

Okay?

Cool noises.

This place has been colonized by two languages.

As a Kanien'kéha person, I have always had three.

Those three languages in my ears, you know?

But in cyberspace, the colonial languages get quieter and quieter.

Yeah.

Until at the end, they're just a whisper.

And this language is our language.

Kanien'kéha is once again revita So we usually all start together -In her studio Skawenatti invites me into a craft circle where modern tools meet ancient traditions.

It's a reminder of how closely our past is tied to our present and our future.

But before I leave, I have to try those bagels.

-I've never actually left my house to buy bagels.

Yeah, it's my first time ever driving to Montréal to get bagels.

I'm down.

-I meet up with High Klassified, a producer who's worked with artists like The Weeknd and Future.

Over bagels We chat about his music, his clothing line, and his favorite places to shop in the city.

Going to Toronto and work with The Weeknd was a lifetime experience.

Seeing his musical process was big for me.

He's from Belgium, but he played the show in Laval and his manager called now like 2 a.m. to go for a studio session.

I was like half asleep, but I really had to do it.

So I went there and like, really had a good time.

[singing] Take my kindness for weakness, Still coming out strong.

Okay.

Yeah.

Oh.

Garlic bagel, wow!

I know that's what I was kind of going Yeah.

But that's also maybe a little offensive.

Why?

For garlic breath.

“Bozo” Looks good.

Yeah.

Bonjour.

Sorry to hold up the line.

Cheers.

Cheers.

I've never had a bagel like this.

Is it good?

I don't know.

I mean, I gotta say, it's very moist.

Bagel.

Yeah, it's a little awkward.

What's moist?

The bagel.

Is there a big community of producers here in Montreal?

Yeah, we all started together.

We all grew together.

Like, there's for sure there's Kaytranada, there's Da-P, there's Tommy Kruise.

and since it's a small city, we all hang out together.

We all party together.

Do you make beats?

I've only made them with an 808.

Oh.

That's good.

You know, but I'm also a producer, so I really know the sound I'm looking for to communicate through metaphor and abstraction.

Nice, that's nice.

Or examples, you know?

Yeah, yeah, I hear you.

But I wish I could make beats.

You can move to Montreal for a month and we'll teach you how to how to do everything.

We got you.

You hear that?

It's on camera.

I read that you have on the sweatshirts.

“I make music in my mom's basement.” Yeah.

I think that's so cool.

Do you still make music in your mom's basement?

I still do make music in my mom's basement.

Yeah.

What would you say the sound of Montreal is if you had to...?

Wow.

I feel like the sound of Montreal is freedom.

It's spontaneous.

I feel like every Montreal artist has his own sound.

And, like, since Montreal's multicultural like, we have people from the States, from France, from Haiti, from Cuba, from anywhere in the world.

I feel like Montréal has a world, world wide sound.

And it's all about versatility.

Montreal is a city where you can keep the dream alive.

As a musician, with ample support from the government and a diverse music community.

But it's not just musicians who experiment with sound here.

Did you know there's such a thing as sound sculpture?

-Ooooo.

-Pretty traditional.

-So this is a neighborhood where mostly artists live?

Or?

Yeah, there's a lot around here.

Martin Leduc is a sound and sculpture artist who draws inspiration from observing and listening to the cycles of nature.

He shows me a sound sculpture in his home, a piece that moves and makes sound as it interacts with its surroundings.

I sometimes I just call it like dancing objects, because in a way, most of the time the interaction we have with objects is, is fixed and it's a product.

But in this case the piece is more a process where the objects are themselves emitting the sound.

The sound aspect is to play with time.

For me, I like to put time in a longer range than just listening to songs and short parts of things.

So in the context of installation, the disc are also mirrors.

So you see the context around like if it would be in a forest, you would have reflections of the trees around you.

So my idea is to make a kind of pseudo infinite composition in a way.

Most of the soundscapes from the water have been influencing me a lot.

There's so much current that there's a lot of birds and fish, so the life is pretty wild.

And around Montreal there's it's the only place where there is such a like a manifestation of the energy and, and life with water like that.

Martin takes me to one of his favorite spots in nature, to experience the waves of water that surround this island.

-In an environment like this, what do you start to think about?

Slowing down time.

Well, like the all the metaphors of the river flow and then the stream of consciousness.

So all these things, they kind of refer to it like the becoming time in itself.

So I think this is why I got to think of sound as waves so much more.

Of course we say “sound waves.” It's stable and constantly changing, like we can close our eyes, but we can't close our ears.

Ears have no no lids.

Ears have no lids.

It's true.

♪ [In my soul...] ♪ Whether it's by looking forwards or backwards, the richness that this land has to offer can be felt in the diverse, creative souls that have chosen to call Montreal home.

It is a city that celebrates creativity and nurtures the development of its current artists.

Montreal.

You've got a special kind of magic.

[music] Mon, mon, Montreal The trees from way up here are taller than you will ever be Mon, mon, Montreal The trees from way up here are taller than...