Digging Roots is a Canadian musical group consisting of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, whose musical style blends folk-rock, pop,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and hip hop."A Tribe Called Red, Wab Kinew, Tanya Tagaq on the indigenous music renaissance"

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, August 18, 2014. They won the

Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year The Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the best album by an Indigenous Canadian artist or band. It was formerly known as Best Music of Aborigina ...

in 2010 for their album ''We Are...''. Kanatakta is originally from

Winneway Winneway is an Indian settlement of Anishinaabe band government in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. It is geographically located within the territory of Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality and is home to the Long Point First ...

, Quebec, while Kish is from the Batchewana First Nation in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...

History

Formed in 2004, the duo released their first album ''Seeds'' in 2006. The album was a nominee for the Aboriginal Album of the Year Juno at the

Juno Awards of 2007 The Juno Awards of 2007 were hosted in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on the weekend ending 1 April 2007. These ceremonies honoured music industry achievements in Canada during most of 2006. The event was well known for a possible tape delay by t ...

. They followed with ''We Are...'' in 2009, which featured collaborations with

Tanya Tagaq Tanya may refer to: * Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. * Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name * Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946) * List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...

, DJ Bear Witness of

A Tribe Called Red The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, is a Canadian electronic music group who blend instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chant ...

and

Kinnie Starr Alida Kinnie Starr (born 1970) is a Canadian multidisciplinary recording artist. Early life Starr was born and raised in Calgary, where she attended Western Canada High School. Her ancestry is French, German, Irish and indigenous, specifically ...

, who also produced the album. Their third album ''For the Light'' was released in 2014. They won the Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Group in 2007. In 2016, the band performed at the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival and at the

Ottawa Jazz Festival The Ottawa Jazz Festival is an annual music festival located in Ottawa, Canada. Lineups 2019 2019 event was held from June 21 to July 1 in Marion Dewar Plaza due to the Confederation Park's renovation. 2020 It was cancelled due to COVID-19 pa ...

. In 2017 they performed at the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

in Ottawa. In 2018, Shoshona was awarded the

Womex WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin, whose main event is an exposition held annually in different locations throughout Europe. It integrates a trade fair, showca ...

18 Professional Excellence

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

br>
while Raven was awarded the Cobalt Award at the 2016

Maple Blues Awards The Maple Blues Awards are Canada’s blues awards, "honouring the finest in Canadian blues". They are the only comprehensive national best in blues awards program. The program's goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outs ...

. After organizing three International Indigenous Music Summits together, Kish partnered with singer-songwriter

Amanda Rheaume Amanda Rheaume (born May 25, 1982) is a Métis folk singer-songwriter from Canada. Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario,Wes Smiderle, "Songs in the key of life". ''Ottawa Citizen'', June 5, 2003. Rheaume is a Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontar ...

in 2021 to form Ishkōdé Records. The label releases music by Rheaume, Digging Roots, and singer-songwriters

Aysanabee Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree singer-songwriter from Canada, whose debut album ''Watin'' was released in 2022.Jonathan Ore"Aysanabee's pandemic phone calls with his grandfather inspired his debut album" ''Unreserved'', November 4, 2022. A member of the ...

and Morgan Toney.

Discography

Studio albums

* Seeds (2006) * ''We Are'' (2009) * ''For the Light'' (2014) * ''Zhawenim'' (2022)

Singles

* ''Ak47'' (2016) * ''The Healer'' (2021) * ''Cut My Hair'' (2021) * ''SKODEN'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Canadian folk rock groups Canadian blues musical groups First Nations musical groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 2004 2004 establishments in Ontario Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year winners Canadian Folk Music Award winners