6 Indigenous artists you need to know in 2023

Written by Andrea Warner, with thanks to Reclaimed producer Travis Pereira.

From electrifying producers working with some of the finest names in hip-hop to garage rockers embracing the personal and political to a queer emerging folk singer-songwriter's stunning debut, CBC Music celebrates National Indigenous History Month with six artists you need to know in 2023.

Hayley Wallis 

The singer-songwriter fuses her pop music with soul, R&B, jazz and a little hip-hop, crafting a sound that's familiar but still fresh. Her voice hugs the curve of her alto, textured and warm, assured and confident. Hayley Wallis is feeling herself, and it's a too-rare pleasure to hear that as the foundation of a vocal throughline in an artist's debut.

Wallis, who is part of the Kitasoo/Xai'xais Nation, now makes her home in Vancouver, but she grew up singing on Klemtu, an isolated island in the Great Bear Rainforest in B.C. She was one of Reclaimed's artists to watch in 2023 after releasing her first EP, Halulu, last November.

Boogey the Beat

Ever since he began making music as Boogey the Beat, DJ and producer Les Boulanger has been a key collaborator for an incredible array of artists including the Halluci Nation, DJ Shub and Snotty Nose Rez Kids. With the release of his May debut, Cousins, Boulanger steps into the spotlight to share his musical vision: tracks inspired by the sounds of sundances and powwows. The result is percussive beats that bridge traditional powwow songs, drums and rhythms with contemporary genres like dance, hip-hop, electro-soul, neo-R&B, pop and more. 

Boulanger, who is Anishinaabe, says the first beat that he really connected with growing up was the big drum at those aforementioned sundances and powwows.

"It's important to not forget that at one time it was illegal for us to sing these songs, play these drums, and go to these ceremonies," Boulanger says. "Now it's a time for celebration, and for us to take over the main stage." 

Fontine 

The folk-indie pop singer-songwriter released her debut EP, Yarrow Lover, earlier this year, but she's been working toward this moment almost since birth. A week after she was born, her dad, a touring musician, hit the road with Fontine in tow. 

But between her birth and the release of Yarrow Lover, Fontine built up a reputation as an in-demand collaborator and essential player in country artist Boy Golden's backing band. With her debut, Fontine finally has the opportunity to fully step into herself as a songwriter and centre her perspective as a woman who is Cree, queer and refuses to be quiet about it.

"All of the songs are about me being a queer person, for the most part," Fontine told CBC Music's The Intro earlier this year. "And I think it's just really important for me personally to be very vocal about it because we need to see that representation…. I've had a couple parents come up to me on the street or something and tell me that their six-year-old was at one of my shows and they were singing the songs over and over again. And it's just very crazy and cool."

Miesha & the Spanks

It's been 10 years since Miesha & the Spanks released their debut, Girls, Like Wolves. The garage-rock act has issued several more releases since then, but also took a lengthy break when lead singer-songwriter Miesha Louie gave birth to twins. But now the Treaty 7-based band, which calls Calgary home, is back with a blistering batch of tracks and a brand new album, 2023's Unconditional Love in Hi-Fi.

The record finds Louie, who is mixed-Secwépemc, working through a complex vortex that is both personal to her lived experiences and a reflection of the ongoing hatred, violence, fear and gaslighting experienced by so many racualized, 2SLGBTQ+ and gender-diverse people. She also tackles motherhood, body image issues, cyber bullying and her father's passing. The heavy subject matter is a stimulant, though, because sometimes resistance is crushing rock 'n' roll or wry punk or a sunny kind of throwback to the glory days of riot grrrl. 

"It is really hard to write about Indigenous issues and my experience within them, which is probably why I avoided it so long," Louie said in an interview with Wonderland Magazine. ""I had a lot of doubt and self-criticism along the way... With 'Dig Me Out' I was more worried about the reaction of my white fans, which I have a lot of, because sometimes there can be this mentality here in Canada that 'it's over' or 'it's in the past' or even disbelief that these things really happened... It is not the song that I thought would have the most radio play I've ever received in Canada, but the fact that radio got so behind it is amazing."

Atamone

There isn't much known, at least not publicly, about Atamone, the prolific-but-private producer and multi-instrumentalist who builds his beats and soundscapes across electronica, ambient, jazz, hip-hop, soul and more. Atamone is Inuk and makes his home in Montreal, but he doesn't rely on interviews to make a name for himself. He lets his music do that for him. 

According to his own Facebook post in January, Atamone has released more than 100 songs since he began producing beats and making music in 2011. This year alone, he's released two solo EPs so far: Ville-Marie in January and Campus Beats in May. But among Atamone's most high-profile collaborations are his ongoing releases with Illa J, younger brother of late hip-hop great J Dilla. 

Shauit

He's known for fusing traditional First Nations sounds and music with reggae, but on his newest album, Natukun, singer-songwriter Shauit returns to his folk music roots — specifically traditional Innu music, or Innu trad, which he blends with Quebecois trad and other styles of trad, too. His first real connection with music was at the Innu Nikamu Festival, and his dream was to play like Kashtin, the famous folk-rock duo who, like Shauit, are also Innu from Maliotenam, Quebec. When he attended a metropolitan high school, Shauit was introduced to hip-hop, reggae and dancehall. He fell in love all over again. 

Natukun — pronounced "n'dogoun" according to Shauit's site — is sung largely in Innu-aimun and tackles life's biggest themes: healing, love and hope. "Natukun" means "remedy" in Innu, and it's a testament to the strength and versatility of Shauit's musical vision that he can create with such alacrity, blurring and breathing new worlds by collapsing perceived boundaries between genres.