Sled Island

Sled Island and LRG are thrilled to co-present the return of Big Freedia, the undisputed “Queen Diva” of Bounce Music, on Friday, September 14 at the HiFi Club. Hailing from New Orleans, Big Freedia's last performance at the No. 1 Legion in Calgary was a memorable one. Hand-picked by curators Quintron and Miss Pussycat for Sled Island 2010, Big Freedia brought the energy of Bounce Music to a euphoric, ass-shaking, glitter-covered crowd.

Bounce Music is an original urban music rising up from the challenging yet fun-loving nature of the New Orleans housing projects which dominate the city’s street culture and Freedia performs a derivative of Bounce reserved for self-proclaimed “Sissies” (a locally used name for biological men with varied and ambiguous sexual identities) that has risen to prominence in recent years and features explicitly gay and cross-dressing musicians and themes. Big Freedia, like other “Sissy” artists, has achieved mainstream success with several New Orleans hit singles such as "Gin in My System" and “Azz Everywhere!” from her albums “An Ha, Oh Yeah” (1999) and “Queen Diva” (2003). Freedia began her musical career almost 15 years ago at the Walter L. Cohen High School in New Orleans, where she was enlisted as choir director from her Sophomore to Senior years. She sees her performance as a Bounce artist as an extension of this work, often interacting in a call and response/ teacher and student fashion with her audiences.

Tickets are on sale for $15 and can be purchased online or in-store at The Gallery, Grassroots and Sloth Records.