POP Montreal festival celebrates 15 years

Pop Montreal begins tonight with a lineup as eclectic as ever.

Headliners include John Cale, co-founder ofThe Velvet Underground,Angel Olsen, an American folk musician of rising popularity andBabyfather, the latest project by the elusive British musician Dean Blunt.

Dan Seligman, creative director for POP Montreal, is also excited about Jean-Sebastien Audet, better known on stage as Un Blonde.

"He grew up in Calgary a recent transplant. He's 20 years old, super young, and he's released four or five records already," Seligmantold CBC Montreal's Homerun host Sue Smith.

"He moved to Montreal and he's been putting stuff out....He's definitely one of our favourite upcoming bands."

Un Blonde first played at POP Montreal three years ago. This summer, the musician cameback to perform in 2016's POP Off Tour, where he played along with another Montreal act,She-Devils.

Previous artists who played in the POP Off Tour includeGrimes, Malajube, Plants & Animals and Ought.

"There's anongoingtheory that if you want to pick the Polaris winner, just look at previous years' lineups of Pop Montreal," Seligmanjokes, adding that this year's winner of the Polaris Music Prize,electronic hip-hop artistKaytranada,played at POP Montreal last year.

• Kaytranada is the winner of the 2016 Polaris Music Prize
• Montreal hip-hop community proud to see Kaytranada take home Polaris Prize

The international music festival also has other activities and events, including a fashion show, rooftop concerts,vernissages, exhibits and a symposium.

"All kinds of really interesting people coming to speak andparticipatein the festival," Seligman said.

One of the speakers at this year's symposium is Susan Rogers, the former sound engineer of the late music icon, Prince.

Festival goers can buy tickets for individual events or purchase day passes.

The festival runs from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25.