Amanda Braam
Singer / Songwriter, Kitchener, ON
Blending heart-wrenching folk sincerity, crunchy jazz harmony, and catchy pop melody, an Amanda Braam performance is a musical and emotional rollercoaster that leaves listeners enthralled. Hailing from Kitchener, Ontario, Amanda is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who is known for her siren-like vocals and intricate acoustic guitar lines. She released a self-produced demo album when she was 17 in 2021, and subsequently won both the Dorothy Shoemaker Songwriting Competition and the Western University’s Musician competition.
In 2024, Amanda dropped her album “Paper Cranes” alongside two music videos, and began performing throughout her province both solo, with her band "The Paper Cranes", and has later, as half of the jazz/folk duo "Roundabout Dance". She's played festivals such Riverfest Elora, Summerfolk, Banditfest, and It's Your Festival; and has shared the stage with artists such as Fleet Foxes, Violent Femmes, and The Strumbellas. In 2025, she and her band won the Summerfolk Youth Discoveries Competition, as well as the Niagara Jazz for the Ages Competition alongside her trio.​
Amanda is currently attending Wilfrid Laurier University in the Honours Bachelor of Music Therapy program, and is part of the community music initiative “The Lullaby Project”, which pairs at-risk mothers with a musician to write and record an original song for their children. She also teaches music lessons at Adrian Jones Music School. Amanda was a featured artist at the KPL’s Produce:HER sessions, a songwriting/production workshop for women and gender-nonconforming musicians. In 2025, she was a nominee for The Listening Party's Music Producer Showcase in Toronto. In 2026, she received the Music Therapy Association of Ontario's Student Award.​​​​
Amanda Braam & The Paper Cranes
Amanda Braam & The Paper Cranes are an indie-folk-pop band from Waterloo, Ontario featuring Fiona Sinclair on lead guitar / keys, Eve Elford on bass, Simon Dawes on drums, and Amanda on rhythm guitar / lead vocals. The band met while studying at Wilfrid Laurier University and came together to bring Amanda's songs to life with their rich harmonies, crunchy chords, and catchy melodies.
Since their festival debut on the main stage of Riverfest Elora in 2024, the band has played throughout Ontario at festivals such as It's Your Festival (Hamilton), Summerfolk (Owen Sound), Brantford Beats & Eats, and Youngfolk Festival (Guelph). In 2025, the band won the Summerfolk Youth Discoveries Competition. They’ve shared the stage with acts such as The Strumbellas, Violent Femmes, and Fleet Foxes.
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Amanda & The Paper Cranes often play in KW, performing at venues such as Maxwell’s, The Yeti, The Union, and The Jazz Room; and they were featured artists for Kitchener Neighbour’s Day, as well as Waterloo’s Canada Day. They have been interviewed by local radio stations such as Midtown Radio and Radio Laurier.
With influences ranging from folk, pop, jazz, shoegaze, and alternative, a Paper Cranes performance is a musical and emotional rollercoaster that will leave listeners enthralled.
Roundabout Dance
Roundabout Dance is a duo composed of singer/songwriters Amanda Braam and Simon Dawes. Blending folk, Jazz, and Alternative, their music seeks to capture the strangeness and beauty of life as they understand it. Known for introspective lyrics, interlocking guitars, and rich vocal harmonies, Amanda and Simon take to stages throughout Ontario wielding two guitars and two voices. They play original music and pay homage to their inspirations with jazz standards and contemporary covers.
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The two met in Owen Sound at the 2023 Summerfolk Youth Discoveries Competition. Simon won the competition that year, and Amanda won two years later. In 2025, they won Jazz for the Ages playing as a trio. Amanda and Simon write songs about what they know, what they don’t, what they feel, and what they see. They spend a lot of time in forests listening to birds.
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P.S - The band name references the catchy tune "The Roundabout Dance" written by written by Nancy Button and performed by Patrick Lefler and Dan Drysdale as part of Waterloo Region's 2009 Roundabout Education Campaign. To this day, it appears Waterloo inhabitants could use some help navigating these dizzying death-traps.
