By Sean Coombs
Expo Reporter
OSAKA, Japan — At an event as crowded as EXPO 2025 in Osaka, the music emanating from the many pavilions can be drowned out by the thousands of visitors and staff.
But during the height of the week-long Canada Day festivities at the Canada pavilion, the iconic Canadiana music being belted out of the pavilion’s main stage was difficult to ignore.
The showcased artists were Dominique Fils-Aimé, Jill Barber, and Lisa Leblanc, who each held over five performances throughout their run at the pavilion.
While performing at a World Expo was a first for artists like Barber, others like Fils-Aimé had performed at Expos before, including the 2020 World Expo in Dubai.
Fils-Aimé performed a lineup of vocal and new-wave jazz songs including her newest song Our Roots Run Deep.
Barber performed folk-pop hits from across her discography like her 2013 song Petite fleur, and Leblanc headlined her performances with her famous French-Canadian trash-folk music.
Fils-Aimé said her time on the pavilion stage was an opportunity for her and her band to distinguish Canadian music from the music from other pavilions and leave a distinct impression on visitors.
“I’m just hoping that people leave with the global feeling of having went through a global journey with us and leave with hope and love in their hearts,” she said in an interview. “Most of my songs are about my hope for people to connect to each other, connect to themselves, connect to their emotions, and connect to us as well as a band.”
While Fils-Aimé hails from Montreal and is a prominent member of the francophone music scene, she’s proud of her Haitian heritage and captures her intergenerational experiences in her music.
“It’s definitely about emotions on a large spectrum,” she said. “It goes from sadness, to grieving, to hope, and to wanting to underline the importance of love as an element; a part of this world that heals and also unites.”
Barber said her experience at the Canada pavilion was highlighted by the interactions she had with visitors both Canadian and Japanese.
“There’s been a real feeling of warmth in not just the temperature, but being warmly received,” she said. “It’s so heartwarming to see that Canada is still very much considered a friend, a friend to many, and people seem to love Canadians here.”
With her last performance at the Expo being held on Canada Day, Barber said she experience a real sense of pride about being Canadian, especially in light of the growing renewed patriotism back home.
“I’m really feeling the appreciation and the gratitude for all that we have as Canadians, and I’m glad we’ve taken a day to celebrate that.”
