5 songs you need to hear to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

For Indigenous Peoples Day, we're devoting this week's edition of Songs you need to hear to new tracks from exciting Indigenous musicians. 

Scroll down to discover the songs our producers have had on repeat.

'Dear Dad,' Shawnee Kish

Father's Day can be a painful time for many, and for Mohawk singer-songwriter Shawnee Kish, it's a moment to reflect on her father's passing. Her dad died when she was 10 years old, and she is still grieving, pouring her sadness into the lyrics of "Dear Dad": "What I wouldn't give just to see you again/ what I wouldn't give please don't say it's the end," she sings. There's power in her straightforward lyrics, making the song feel like a heartbreaking conversation between her and her father. A sombre string arrangement emphasizes Kish's rich vocals as she sings about wanting more time with him, and her stirring delivery underscores the sadness of missing a parent. Have a box of tissues ready — by the end of the song, you'll be welling up. — Natalie Harmsen 

'Wild,' Wyatt C. Louis

"Wild" is track 2 from Wyatt C. Louis's debut album, Chandler, and to fully appreciate it, it's best to start with track 1, a gentle, one-minute instrumental called "Nipawâkan" ("My Dream Spirit" in Plains Cree) that beautifully eases you into the song. "Waiting to get caught up to her/ She asked me how I found out so soon," Louis begins, seemingly midway through a narration that's personal, even private. It refers to how quickly you realize a person is meant to be in your life — "someone you can share meaningful experiences with and feel like you can truly be yourself around," Louis told CBC Music by email. This intimate country-folk meditation also bears a message of resilience — that no matter what life throws at you, your true self stays intact: "Wild side they say/ Define your life, they may/ Take me as I am." It's a fairly profound concept, delivered without an ounce of pretense, which seems to be Louis's trademark at this early stage in their burgeoning career. — Robert Rowat

'Disappointing the Internet,' Cassidy Mann

We've all been there before: you're sitting at home, scrolling through social media and you can't help but start comparing yourself to the pictures on your feed. Then the doubts flood in: Should I be more social? Should I look different? Could that be my body? Anishinaabe artist Cassidy Mann captures this toxic act of social comparison on her latest single, "Disappointing the Internet." Over a gentle acoustic guitar, she lets her self-doubt spill out in the form of questions until she lands on the most important one: "Does it matter?" She continues, admitting: "Up in expectations/ I don't necessarily make 'em/ But they still get to me nonetheless." The song concludes with an open-ended statement, a hopeful note that gives Mann and listeners autonomy to fight back against those negative thoughts and perhaps even log off to discover what happiness truly means to you instead of letting a screen tell you what it is. — Melody Lau

'Sîsîkwan,' Asko

Marek Tyler is the drummer from Polaris-shortlisted band nêhiyawak, and his new moniker, Asko, is his "transformation from drummer to beat worker," as fellow shortlister Leanne Betasamosake Simpson so aptly wrote in his artist bio. "Sîsîkwan" is a song for matriarchs, and with percussion as his voice Tyler creates a story weighted with the undercurrent of responsibility but playful in melody — a contemporary range that also pays tribute. "I want to honour our family's matriarchs, their footwork and fan work," he said in a press release. "When they enter, I want to play bells, shakers, and rattles for them, honouring them with beats." The video for "Sîsîkwan" plays like a dream, showing blurred-out, colour-saturated shots of women dancing to the soft beat that Tyler has built. It's a full-body experience, faceless yet somehow so specific — and only makes us more eager to hear his upcoming full-length album on Sept. 9. — Holly Gordon

'Dirt Roads,' Tia Wood

Tia Wood grew up singing traditional Cree music with her family (Juno winners Fawn Wood and supergroup Northern Cree) but is about to embark on a solo career of her own with single "Dirt Roads." The R&B/pop song is a new sonic exploration for the emerging artist, as she merges her upbringing with a more modern sound. She moved to Los Angeles briefly to work on music and felt an immense pressure to assimilate, but stayed connected to her culture by remembering life back in Saddle Lake, Alta.: "When I'm about to bring out the comb/ I think about the dirt roads/ Dirt roads, lead me back home." Wood told CBC Music in an interview that she chose "Dirt Roads" as the debut single for this new era because it symbolized that internal rift: "The song just kind of talks about being kind of like a fish out of water, feeling displaced. And yeah, it just kind of made sense because I feel like it really captures the beginning of this whole journey." — Kelsey Adams