Vinta is a Toronto-based folk quartet formed during the pandemic, specializing in traditional European dance music with a modern, intense approach. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Emilyn Stam, John David Williams, Nathan Smith, and Robert Alan Mackie, who are known for their work in the Canadian folk and Balfolk scenes.

Playing fiddles, accordions, clarinet, and double-bass, Vinta is a collective of four brilliant performers at the cutting edge of Western European traditional music in Canada. Nearly a decade of these four musicians hanging out at fiddle jams around Toronto has culminated in this quartet, bringing new intensity to old tunes, and growing new tunes from old sources. A band of multi-instrumentalists and genuine scholars, Vinta is making music that is powerful, profound, and fiercely danceable.Through tunes, stories, and kaleidescopic arrangements, Vinta brings you into their love of European fiddle music, from the romanticism of waltzes and mazurkas to the wilder and more ethereal sounds of rural folk dance tunes. Their debut album “Beacons” earned them “Instrumental Composers of the Year” at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards.