First Indigenous artist to win Songwriter of the Year at the JUNO Awards

On 24 March 2024, Aysanabee (Oji-Cree, Sucker Clan of the Sandy Lake First Nation; b. Evan Pang) became the first Indigenous musician to win Songwriter of the Year at the JUNO Awards.

The singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, who was raised in Kaministiquia, a community based in the Thunder Bay District in the Canadian province of Ontario, was a three-time nominee at the 2024 JUNO Awards. Aysanabee also made history as the first Indigenous artist to win in the Alternative Album of the Year category, for his EP Here and Now (also the named work for his unsuccessful third nomination, for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year).

The Songwriter of the Year category has previously been won by the likes of Bryan Adams, Leonard Cohen, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain and The Weeknd (b. Abel Tesfaye), who achieved a hat-trick between 2021 and 2023.

Aysanabee identified himself after his grandfather’s surname, and his debut album, Watin (which attracted a Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year nomination in 2023), immortalised his grandfather’s first name. In March 2023, Watin’s first single, “Nomads”, reached No.1 on Mediabase Canada’s Alternative Rock chart, marking another ‘first’ for a member of an Indigenous community in Canada.

Indigenous artists made a splash at the 2024 JUNO Awards, with British Columbia’s Blue Moon Marquee winning Blues Album of the Year (Scream, Holler & Howl) and William Prince (Peguis First Nation) bagging Contemporary Roots Album of the Year (Stand in the Joy), after losing out to Aysanabee for Songwriter of the Year. Additionally, Elisapie (Canadian Inuk, from the Salluit community in Quebec) and Joel Wood (Cree First Nations, from Maskwacis in Alberta) took home the Contemporary and Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year prizes, respectively.