Time to shine

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This article was published 26/03/2024 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Indigenous performing artists are having their moment in the sun, and it isn’t setting any time soon.

The Juno Awards this past weekend in Halifax confirmed its organizers had seen the light, a fact that has become clear recently as Indigenous singers and songwriters gain greater critical acclaim and sell out larger concert venues.

There were more Indigenous Juno nominees than ever before in 2024 and there were several triumphs in categories other than ones the Junos have set aside for Indigenous artists.

That includes William Prince’s Juno for contemporary roots album of the year and two Juno wins for Oji-Cree roots-rocker Aysanabee, who is originally from Sandy Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

When it came time to pay tribute to two of Canada’s music legends — Gordon Lightfoot and Robbie Robertson, both of whom died in 2023 — organizers for Sunday’s Junos telecast chose several Indigenous artists to honour and entertain.

Aysanabee performed a duet of Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind, with Montreal folk star Allison Russell and then they joined Prince and several other Indigenous artists for The Weight, Robertson’s classic when he was with the Band.

The surge in popularity for Indigenous performers and their music hasn’t been lost on the global music industry either.

Spotify, the streaming-service giant, produces its Indigenous playlist, and every month it invites an Indigenous artist from Canada to curate it.

It is Fontine’s turn this month to have her name and face shine on a giant video board in downtown Toronto and pick the 30 songs to go with the honour.

“I’ve seen some of my pals up on the Yonge and Dundas billboard and a lot of Indigenous artists I’ve been inspired by as well, I’ve seen them curate this playlist,” the Winnipeg singer-songwriter says.

“I never thought that I would be one that also got to do it.”

Songs by Indigenous artists have become so prevalent that it was a difficult task to whittle down her list of favourites to just 30, says Fontine, who released her debut EP, Yarrow Lover, a year ago.

”I had to pick my one favourite song (by an artist) I wanted to hear,” says Fontine, who’s the third Manitoban in the past year, following R&B artists Mattmac and Sebastian Gaskin, whom Spotify has handed its playlist reins.

“(Métis singer) Ruby Waters is one of my favourite artists in general and it was hard not to put a bunch of her songs on there.”

Not only does the playlist offer an opportunity to showcase her music — Fontine’s playlist includes three of her own tracks — but also the work of her peers she enjoys.

That includes songs by fellow Manitobans such as Tour du monde, by Métis rocker Andrina Turenne, Tropical Sour Candy by pop singer Cassidy Mann and Always Had What We Had by Prince, whom Fontine opened a sold-out Centennial Concert Hall show earlier this month, along with Indigenous artists from across Canada.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Fontine’s playlist is the variety of genres she’s chosen, whether it’s the country tunes of Wyatt C. Louis of Treaty 7 territory near Calgary, Gaskin’s mix of electronica and R&B or the ethereal music of Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat singer and Polaris Music Prize winner.

“Every single song on here is music I listen to quite often. Some of them I get to call my friends, which is amazing, but they’re all Canadian artists that I’m super-inspired by,” she says.

Fontine Beavis is of Cree heritage and grew up in Brandon but spent her summers at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Listeners might discover her Indigenous background in her lyrics, but her folk-music melodies, such as in her song Homemaker, for instance, know no borders.

”I was in a relationship that I felt stagnant in,” she says. “I didn’t want to be the homemaker, doing stuff at home, not experiencing life at the fullest and it gradually changed into life in general.

“I don’t want to let life pass me by.”

While Fontine has been part of Boy Golden’s band for the folk singer’s last two albums, Fontine has found time to sign a deal with Winnipeg’s Birthday Cake Records in January.

Besides the concert hall gig with Prince, she also opened for the Paper Kites at the Burton Cummings Theatre on March 15 and has several festival dates planned for the summer.

“It’s a whole other beast doing your own songs that are written about me and being that vulnerable on stage in front of so many people,” she says. ”The EP is doing really well. People seem to like it, which is exciting.”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall