Alberta has a diverse music scene of pop, rock, country, jazz, folk, caribbean, classical, and blues music. Music festivals in the Summers are representing these genres. Choral music, ethnic music of many nationalities, all are found in Alberta.
The independent music scene was covered by independent magazines: Fast Forward Weekly in Calgary, and Vue Weekly in Edmonton, neither magazine is currently active. BeatRoute Magazine is still in publication, but covers a wider scope (western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba).
Aboriginal music has been present in Alberta since the end of the last ice age, nearly 10,000 years ago in Southern Alberta, around 8,000 year ago in the North. Aboriginal instruments in this part of North American were limited to the voice and the easily made and portable drum. During the fur trade, European fur traders (mostly Orcadian Scots and French-Canadians) added a variety of their own instruments, such as the guitar and the accordion, but most importantly the fiddle. The fiddle became the basis of a distinctive style used in the Western fur trade and associated with the Métis people in particular. In his memoir Buffalo Days and Nights, respected Métis guide and interpreter Peter Erasmus writes that French Métis fiddlers from Lac Ste. Anne played for the Christmas celebrations at Fort Edmonton in 1856. This tradition persisted even after Ontarian and European immigration began to increase after 1870. A list of dances published in the Edmonton Bulletin on 3 February 1896 includes several of Métis and Scottish origin.[1]
The following are some musical figures associated with the Canadian province of Alberta.