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Montreal’s Moonshine party comes to Toronto for Pride

Moonshine featuring NAKhANE at Pride Main Stage (Yonge & Dundas), Friday (June 21), 7-11 pm. Free.


For all we know about Earth and the celestial bodies that surround us, there’s still something about a full moon that entices and affects us in inexplicable ways.

The clean slate of a new moon and the good vibes that follow are the basis for Moonshine, a Montreal-based monthly party that takes place the Saturday following a full moon. What originally started out as an intimate jam in friends’ kitchens has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, with events in Lisbon, Santiago, New York City and Paris. Their next stop is here in Toronto as a part of Pride headlined by South African artist Nakhane

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P Richelet

“At some point we were like, ‘the kitchens are getting smaller and smaller,’” laughs co-founder Pierre Kwenders. “So we thought: ‘why don’t we make it a party?’” 

Kwenders is a Juno-nominated and two-time Polaris Prize-longlisted artist who five years ago was simply thinking about ways to help finance his next tour and didn’t anticipate how Moonshine would catch on.

The appeal was immediate, thanks to the strong idea of what Kwenders and co-founder Hervé Kalongo wanted to do going into the venture. Their kitchen parties had been a way for them to hear old-school Congolese music alongside the latest bops straight from Kinshasa, so they brought that mindset to their parties, making sure people would not hear the same songs they hear in every other club. 

“I believe what we brought with Moonshine was this place where you can hear things that might be popping right now from the street but also music you never thought you’d be able to discover and never imagined to hear in Montreal,” Kwenders explains. 

That forward-thinking perspective means that the people they book for each party are emerging talents in their own right, like New York City’s Venus X, Montreal’s Jerico or Toronto’s own Bambii and Harrison. 

As much as DJ sets make up the bulk of Moonshine’s programming there’s also a strong live performance element to the events, from the resident percussionists and trumpeter who add an immediate flair and energy to the room, to complete live sets. 

“Most recently we did a collab with a festival here in Montreal called Block Party,” explains Kwenders. “We invited an MC from Toronto named Sydanie, who did a great 30-minute set for us.” 

Last November, Moonshine released its second SMS For Location compilation, featuring global artists, plus acts from Montreal (Mind Bath, ABAKOS, Kwenders) and Toronto (Bambii).

The good vibes mentality of Moonshine extends from the musical discovery to the welcoming open-door policy. Each month the location of the party changes and attendees have to text a number to find out the address – ensuring that the people who show up actually want to be there. Gone are the restrictive dress code policies usually associated with clubs, in favour of letting people express themselves in their own unique style however they please, and garnering the attention of Vogue magazine in the process.

“We don’t feel the need to judge anyone by the look they have or the way they dress. The most important message for us is love and we try to communicate love through music,” Kwenders muses. “It’s never been tied as a Black party or an African party or a queer party. We want people to feel welcome and to stay as long as they want.”

You can hear a tinge of pride in Kwenders’ voice when he talks about the atmosphere that the Moonshine collective have worked so hard to cultivate. 

“We go very late,” he explains. “It’s always fun to see people there still dancing at six or seven in the morning. The DJ is still playing and they’re still wanting more. That means a lot.” 

@therewasnosound

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