The Canadian Indigenous music scene is rich, varied and thriving; here are five acts you should check out
By: Nganji Kimonyo
Canadian Indigenous music, like Indigenous culture, is both varied and rich. Its scene is home to sounds and styles that encompass all genres, but what they all have in common is that they speak on the Indigenous experience. Each of the following artists have used their musical gifts to share their personal accounts and perspectives of this experience, and serve as a testament to the fact that the Indigenous music scene in Canada is not only alive and well, but also thriving.
(Zulian Yuliansyah/Pexels)
Snotty Nose Rez Kids
Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a hip-hop group from the reserve community of Kitamaat Village in the Haisla Nation, in B.C. SNRK, as they are often referred to, is composed of Young D and Yung Trybez who have been performing together since 2016 and have released four albums to date. Their musical style can be described as Indigenous trap, with high-energy sound and lyrics that address themes relating to the Indigenous experience. They cover a range of subjects in their music, such as fighting stereotypes, celebrating Indigenous culture, loss of family members to suicide and protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline.
SNRK have received critical acclaim and awards for their music, including Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist and Best Indigenous Artist at the 2020 Western Canadian Music Awards. Two of their albums, The Average Savage and TRAPLINE, have been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Their fourth album, Life After was released in 2021 and they are currently on their North American tour.
Zoon
Zoon is a shoegaze band from Hamilton, Ont., founded and led by Daniel Monkman, a musician originally from Selkirk, Man. and a member of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. The rest of the band’s lineup varies, but it currently consists of guitarist Daniel Wintermans, bassist Drew Rutt and drummer Andrew McLeod.
Monkman began his musical career in Winnipeg as part of the Blisters project, but struggles with addiction derailed his career for a number of years. In his rehabilitation process, Monkman sought out the Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers of his Ojibway culture and it became a catalyst for his eventual recovery. The band’s name, Zoon, is derived from the word “Zoongide’ewin” which means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit” in Ojibway, and is an homage to his heritage and the role it played in helping him recover.
Monkman refers to Zoon’s sound as Moccasin-gaze, a reference to the mixture of Indigenous influences to the shoegaze genre. Their first album Bleached Wavves was released in 2020 to rave reviews and was a shortlisted finalist for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.
PIQSIQ
PIQSIQ (pronounced PILK-SILK) is a modern Inuit-style throat-singing duo composed of sisters Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, who hail from Yellowknife but have roots in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot and Kivalliq Regions.
When growing up in Yellowknife, the sisters would receive cassette recordings of ancient, traditional throat singing, or katajjaq, from family in Nunavut. When they learned of the attempts of the Canadian government and the Catholic Church to eradicate throat singing, the sisters came to view the practice as an act of reclamation and revitalization. They initially performed traditional versions of throat singing but over time, began experimenting with modern technology such as loops to create a new and unique sound. PIQSIQ, in Inuktut, refers to a particular type of snowstorm where the wind gives the impression that the snow is rising to the heavens and is a testament to the sisters’ desire to always mix things up and blend different influences.
They excel in their live performances where they are best able to showcase their unique sound and their powerful chemistry. To date, the duo have released one full-length album, TAAQTUQ UBLURIAQ: DARK STAR and multiple EPs.
Cris Derksen
Cris Derksen is an Indigenous cellist who comes from the North Tallcree reserve in northern Alberta. Her musical journey began early on in her life at the Victoria School for the Performing Arts in Edmonton where she was trained in classical music. Derksen would go on to earn a bachelor of music in cello performance at the University of British Columbia, where she was the principal cellist with the UBC symphony orchestra.
She has gone on to work on a variety of projects including the Cris Derksen quartet and the Orchestral Powwow Project. Derksen has also toured extensively and with world-renowned Canadian musicians such as Tanya Tagaq, Buffy Sainte Marie, Naomi Klein, and Leanne Simpson.
Derksen’s music can be described as electronic cello or classical traditional fusion because of the way she blends her classical training, Indigenous ancestry and modern electronic instruments. Derksen has released two solo albums, The Cusp and The Collapse, and one self-titled album with her Orchestral Powwow.
Jeremy Dutcher
Jeremy Dutcher is a classically-trained Canadian Indigenous tenor, performer, composer, activist and musicologist who is a Wolastoqiyik member of the Tobique First Nation in N.B. Dutcher was initially trained as an opera tenor and studied music and anthropology at Dalhousie University, but later began using traditional songs and singing styles from his Wolastoq culture. Dutcher worked in the archives of the Canadian Museum of History where he transcribed Wolastoq songs from 1907 wax cylinders.
The experience of interacting with these recordings inspired Dutcher to use the voices of his ancestors for his debut album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, which won the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year as well as the 2018 Polaris Music Prize. In doing so, Dutcher also helps to keep the Wolastoqey language alive, of which there are only one hundred speakers left.
His style of music is a fusion between classical and Indigenous influenced music and language which comes together to create a very moving and original sound.