Electro-pop, power ballads and moccasin gaze: Meet this year's Indigenous Juno nominees
Every year, the Juno Awards celebrate the best in Canadian music. Indigenous musicians are highlighted in the Indigenous Artist of the Year category, but as these artists move more into the mainstream, their work is also being recognized outside of that category.
Although the Juno Award ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, today on Unreserved, we're celebrating this year's crop of Indigenous nominees.
It may have been a hard experience, but the breakup that inspired Celeigh Cardinal's Stories from a Downtown Apartment, wasn't without its lessons. She spoke to Unreserved's Kyle Muzyka about exploring her feelings on the record, crying while writing it, and the whirlwind of success since the album's release.
Cree-Métis singer/songwriter iskwē is nominated twice outside the Indigenous category at the Junos this year. Her album, Acākosīk, is up for Adult Alternative Album of the Year; her video for Little Star is up for Video of the Year. Her album is political, but iskwē talks about how her existence as an Indigenous person is, by definition, political.
Tlicho rock musician Digawolf's latest record, Yellowstone, is full of inspirations from musicians like Tom Waits, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. On the heels of that release, the band, fronted by Diga, is already back with a new single, High Arctic.
Cree "moccasin-gaze" rock band nêhiyawak's first full-length record, nipiy, is an exploration of sounds from synthesizers, large and small, to the cadences of the North Saskatchewan River. Unreserved's Kyle Muzyka visited with the band last summer while they were recording the record, working with a one-of-a-kind synthesizer at the National Music Centre.
This week's playlist: 
Northern Haze — Inuk
Riit — Qaumajuapik
Celeigh Cardinal — The Devil is a Blue-Eyed Man
iskwē — Little Star
Digawolf — High Arctic
nêhiyawak — Tommaso
Tanya Tagaq — Toothsayer