The leaves drift lazily off the trees and fall around the opera singers. When their song ends, the handful of parents standing near the jungle gym in Georges St Pierre park break into huge smiles. They begin to clap loudly.

“You sing well together. I should have recorded that,” says one father.

The opera singers, Dominic Veilleux, a bass baritone and Agnes Menard, a soprano, are among 1,200 classically trained musicians who’ve been giving free concerts in neighbourhoods across Quebec as part of Mecenat Musica’s mini concerts santé series. 

Montreal’s most beloved band of the 1990s will be reuniting for the first time since 2007 for this year’s online edition of NDG’s MTL vs Racism concert. Grateful fans have John Jordan to thank. 

These days Jordan may be better known to NDGers as the neighbourhood’s infamous alley cat gallery curator, but he’s also the Ska pop band’s saxophonist.