Aboriginal musicians knocking at mainstream’s door

Juno award nominated Aboriginal artists hope the Canadian music prize will lead to more exposure and perhaps mainstream airplay, but even with a Best Aboriginal Album win, the larger mainstream markets remain frustratingly out of reach.

The Aboriginal Album of the Year has been a category in the Juno Awards since 1994, thanks to blues producer Elaine Bomberry, who petitioned to have it become a category to bring exposure to Aboriginal artists.

And while the category has done just that for artists like Digging Roots, who picked up the hardware at last year’s awards, and for singer/songwriter Derek Miller, who has scored two of the coveted Canadian music awards, they say it doesn’t open the doors they wish it would.

Miller, who has been nominated for his third Juno this year, is thankful to Bomberry for ensuring Aboriginal musicians get the recognition in their niche category.
“The Juno nomination is a very big asset for people like myself to get the word out there.”

Miller says he’s been speaking with larger record labels, “to create infrastructure in Indian Country to have our music out there and have mainstream exposure.” He said the Juno category “gave us a chance to express ourselves and give our views to the people so they understand our history.” The next steps are controlling our own media and being a part of the mainstream media, so we’re not looked upon as “a back of the bus situation.”

Miller said he has had a real struggle trying to get his albums played on mainstream radio, and has been turned down in the recent past because the carriers told him they didn’t have an ‘Aboriginal hour.’

“We’re living in 2011 last time I checked, and we’re still dealing with these sorts of things and it’s totally ridiculous.”
Miller is not the only one feeling a sense of frustration by being pigeon-holed into a category. ShoShona Kish of the duo Digging Roots echos Miller’s sentiments. Last year, Digging Roots picked up a Juno for Best Aboriginal Album of the Year. Kish said it’s a challenge to get into other categories, as well as get more airplay in mainstream.
She doesn’t want to be typecast.

“I’m really not interested in contriving an image. I think when we do what we do, we’re just ourselves. Such a strong part of our identity does come from our community.”

It’s an issue, she says, they constantly think about.
“This is something that we’re always trying to figure out, because people make all of these assumptions. And not to be critical, because it’s a journey, but I think racism is still alive and well in this country. Certainly, even the good intended situations, people come with these stereotypes that are pretty strongly ingrained, so they make assumptions about who we are and our music that especially in our case don’t necessarily apply.”

Digging Roots music could probably fit into a number of categories, including folk or blues. And trying to pinpoint a category is something even Miller can’t quite figure out about his own music.

Miller says his music may fit into a ‘Roots’ category, but even then, it’s hard to find a real fit for his music because he says, “it’s so eclectic…. It’s got a country, soul, blues, rock ‘n’roll element, so it’s hard to put it into those sorts of categories. But I’d try to put it into producer of the year, engineer of the year. I don’t know.”

According to Kim Cooke, co-chair of nominating and voting for the Canadian Academy for Recording Arts (the organization that hosts the Juno Awards ),  Aboriginal artists are not limited to the ‘Aboriginal’ category for Juno awards.

“Anybody wishing to submit their recording for consideration by a panel of judges may do so. There’s a filing fee and parameters to follow for each of the 40 awards.”

Cook also says, “No card-carrying Aboriginal should ever feel pigeon-holed. They can submit in any of the craft categories or any of the sales categories if they qualify. For instance, Tanya Tagaq had an entry in one of the instrumental categories a couple of years ago.”

As for Troy Little Hawk or “Little Hawk,” another of this year’s Juno nominees, he says the best thing about the nomination is that they are able to shed light on the issues they sing about, and share their platform with so many more people because of the exposure the nomination brings.

The list of this year’s Juno Best Aboriginal Album of Year nominees include Derek Miller for ‘Derek Miller with Double Trouble’, CerAmony for their self-titled album, Eagle and Hawk for ‘The Great Unknown’, Joey Stylez for his album ‘The Black Star’, and Little Hawk for ‘Vigilance.’