Great Canadian Aboriginal Music

Happy New Year everyone! Many of you have New Year’s resolutions to get fit and others to take it easy and relax more. Here are some Aboriginal musicians who inspire me. Maybe some of their music will help you get motivated too.

Take care,

Victoria

Kinnie Starr
Starr began making her presence felt around 1995 with edgy visual arts, graffiti, rhymes, outspoken race and gender politics, decidedly unorthodox performances, stunning good looks and envelope-pushing, beat-slamming recording. Starr is vocal about her Aboriginal heritage (her father, Michael Starr, is mixed-blood Mohawk) both in her music and her life. In 2006 she mentored aspiring Aboriginal musicians at the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association’s Aboriginal Music Program (AMP) Camp.

You can find some of her songs on CBC Radio 3:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/artists/Kinnie-Starr

Tanya Tagaq
Born and raised in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut in Canada’s high arctic, Tanya grew up surrounded by Inuit and western culture. Although traditional music was always on the periphery, it was the sounds of pop giants such as Janis Joplin and the Doors that first captured her imagination. It wasn’t until her teenage years, while away at school, that she began experimenting with Inuit throat singing. She gradually developed her own solo style, fusing her contemporary interests with the ancient art form.

You can find some of her songs on CBC Radio 3:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/artists/Tanya-Tagaq-Gillis

Here are Kinnie and Tanya performing together at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5t0KopSoM0

Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. His father is from Toronto; his mother, of Mohawk descent, was born and raised on the Six Nations Reservation. At an early age, Robbie began learning guitar from relatives during his summer visits to the reservation. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band.

Somewhere Down the Crazy River:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4&ob=av3e

Buffy Saint Marie
She is a Canadian Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career and in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism.

He’s a Keeper of the Fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP4Ex31LZqU

Team Rezofficial
Team Rezofficial are a Canadian aboriginal hip hop group (primarily Cree from First Nations surrounding Hobbema, Alberta). Founded by former members of War Party, the group includes musicians Hellnback, Drezus, Jay Mak, Big Stomp and Tomaslav Miradovic, and was formed in 2003.

You can find some of their songs on CBC Radio 3:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/artists/Team-Rezofficial
 

To hear more great Canadian Aboriginal music click onto CBC 3’s Ab-Originals Podcast:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/podcasts/Ab-Originals-Podcast/Ab-Originals-Ep-67-Miss-Melissas-Top-10