Aysanabee

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Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree singer-songwriter from Canada, whose debut album Watin was released in 2022. [1]

Contents

Background

A member of the Sandy Lake First Nation, he was born Evan Pang, with a non-inherited surname his mother chose in an attempt to protect him from anti-indigenous racism by portraying him to the community as Asian instead of indigenous, and raised in Kaministiquia, Ontario, outside of Thunder Bay. [2] He reclaimed his grandfather's surname, Aysanabee, as an adult. [1] He worked for a mining company as a teenager, later studying journalism and working as a digital content creator for CTV News. [2]

He played in various bands as a sideline, and began actively creating his own original music as an outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] He submitted his music to the International Indigenous Music Summit after making enough money on a cryptocurrency trade to cover the submission fee. [4] He was the first outside artist signed to Ishkōdé Records, a new label launched in 2021 by singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume and ShoShonna Kish of the band Digging Roots. [2]

Career

Watin was released November 4, 2022. [5] Named for his grandfather's first name, the album features several recordings of his grandfather, recorded in phone conversations during the pandemic, as spoken interludes. [5] The album was preceded by the single "Nomads", which reached #1 on the CBC Music Top 20 [6] and charted on the Canadian rock radio airplay charts, reaching #1 on the Alternative Rock chart in March 2023 and becoming the first indigenous Canadian artist ever to top that chart. [7]

CBC Music named Watin as one of the 22 best Canadian albums of 2022, [8] and "Nomads" as one of the ten best Canadian songs of the year. [9]

Aysanabee was a Juno Award nominee for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year for Watin at the Juno Awards of 2023. [10] He performed "We Were Here (It's in My Blood)" at the live gala on March 13, backed by the traditional indigenous round dance group Northern Cree; [11] he also received praise for his performance outfit, a long jacket designed by Travis Shilling with feathers representing the Canadian Indian residential school gravesites. [7]

Watin was shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. [12]

He followed up in 2023 with the EP Here and Now. [13]

Awards

AwardYearCategoryNominee / workResultRef
Juno Awards 2023 Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year WatinNominated [10]
2024 Here and NowNominated [14]
Alternative Album of the Year Won
Songwriter of the Year "Alone", "Here and Now", "Somebody Else"Won
Polaris Music Prize 2023 Polaris 2023WatinNominated [12]

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