Indigenous artists in Juno spotlight
Multiple Juno nominations in renamed category and beyond give Canadian artists new energy
As the Juno Awards rename the category that recognizes indigenous music, two acts say they’re delighted to see their music being nominated outside that box.
A Tribe Called Red, an Ottawa-bred electronic group, is up for three trophies — none of them in the former aboriginal music category — while Winnipeg singersongwriter William Prince has a chance at two awards, one in the newly renamed indigenous category and another in the field of contemporary roots.
Tribe’s Ian Campeau, a.k.a. DJ NDN, says to be not only recognized but embraced by an organization such as the Juno Awards is encouraging.
“It was nerve-racking for us to put an album out that’s not meant for mainstream North Americans,” Campeau said in a recent interview, “but the way that it’s being received is amazing. It shows that people are receptive to the ideas that we’re putting out there, and the things that we’re confronting.”
We Are the Halluci Nation is a concept album, taut and politically charged, presented in a storm of electronica, hip-hop and powwow beats, and supercharged by an array of high-profile guests, from Yasiin Bey (the former Mos Def ) to Tanya Tagaq.
Inspired by a poem from John Trudell, the late Native American activist and poet, the tracks explore the notion that race is a hallucination, a social construct fabricated by colonists to conquer new territories. It’s a strong message, to be sure. But it’s also a great album that has cracked the Billboard charts and been heralded by critics as essential listening.
It’s up for the year’s best electronic album. The video for the song R.E.D. (featuring Bey, Narcy and Black Bear) is in the running for best video. And the production work on that song and another track, Sila, featuring Tagaq, have earned the trio a nomination in the category of producer of the year, named since 2003 for Jack Richardson.
And, in another demonstration of Juno love, ATCR will also perform on the televised awards show, to be broadcast live from Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. Hosted by comedian Russell Peters and rocker Bryan Adams, the show also features performances by Alessia Cara, Arkells, Billy Talent, Dallas Smith, July Talk, Ruth B., Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Mendes and The Strumbellas.
In honour of the ATCR’s first time performing on camera at the awards, they’ re planning something special. “I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to reveal,” Campeau says, “but it is going to be something nobody’s seen before. It’s going to be more about the idea and concept of what we’re doing than us as A Tribe Called Red performing.”
Prince, meanwhile, is thrilled at his nominations for several reasons, starting with the fact that Earthly Days is his first album. “For the first record to have two Juno nominations, that’s great,” he says. “And wow. It’s a pretty high bar for myself for the next one.”
A compelling demonstration of the 31-year-old’s powerful songwriting and deeply resonant voice, the album was 10 years in the making, finally completed after two false starts. After bad experiences with two producers, Prince ended up in the Winnipeg studio of Scott Nolan wondering if he was doing the right thing.
“I was a bit worried when I put this album together,” he says. “Is it too heavy? Is it too slow? Scott really gave me the confidence to push through: ‘Stick to your vision, stick to what you want to sound like.’ And for this response to happen, I’m still processing it.”
The album, which features haunting backing vocals by Ottawa’s Lynn Miles, has already earned Prince a western Canadian Music Award (as aboriginal artist of the year) and a pair of nominations in last year’s Canadian Folk Music Awards.
For the Junos to recognize him in the contemporary roots category, in the company of some of his favourite Canadian singersongwriter peers, including Corin Raymond, Kacy & Clayton, Lisa Leblanc and Matthew and Jill Barber, was a happy surprise.
“We broke outside the mould on this one, which is great,” he says. “Just to be recognized outside the indigenous category, it really added something, almost a validation of my songwriting. I’ve always wanted to be a great songwriter who happens to be aboriginal. That’s what it felt like. It felt like my music is 100 per cent viewed for what it is, not who I am.”
He describes the indigenous nomination as the “icing on the cake,” partly because of the category’s recent name change. “I think it’s a more approachable term,” Prince says. “We identify with both but historically it felt like maybe aboriginal hasn’t had the best energy around it, whereas indigenous sounds strong. It freshens it up, and allows it to stand on its own again. It has credibility.”
Other nominees in the indigenous category are country powerhouse Crystal Shawanda, the soulful Yellowknife duo Quantum Tangle, the pow-wow-hip-hop mash-up maker Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie and the Ottawa-based trio Silla + Rise, who blend Inuit throat singing with evocative electronic beats.
Two other artists are generating attention on indigenous issues. The legendary Cree folksinger Buffy Sainte-Marie will be honoured with the Junos’ Allan Waters Humanitarian award, while the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie is in the running for two awards — best songwriter and adult contemporary album of the year — for his solo project, Secret Path, which tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, the indigenous boy who ran away from residential school in Kenora 50 years ago and died while trying to walk the hundreds of kilometres home.
In a recent backstage interview, Sainte-Marie, who has received countless awards in her 50-year career, expressed surprise at the humanitarian award, preferring to speak about the importance of art to effect social change. Downie’s album is a good example, says the renowned singer-songwriter-activist, who’s 76.
“Artists are the ones who can sometimes deliver the message in a way, though painful as the subject is, that can teach others never to do that again,” Sainte-Marie says. “I was very glad that he chose to step up and point in the direction he chose to illuminate.”