nêhiyawak are a Canadian

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

indie rock group from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. The band's name is derived from ''Nêhiyawak'', an

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

for the

Cree people The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree or ...

. The band's debut album ''

nipiy ''nipiy'' is the debut album by Edmonton-based band nêhiyawak, released on October 24, 2019, on Arts & Crafts Productions. It was nominated for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the 2020 Juno Awards, and shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris Mus ...

'', released in 2019, was a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominee for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2020 The Juno Awards of 2020, the 49th Juno Awards, was an awards presentation that was to be held at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on 15 March 2020. The awards and associated events were cancelled due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pan ...

,Melody Lau
"Alessia Cara and Tory Lanez lead the 2020 Juno nominations"

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 ...

, January 28, 2019. and was shortlisted for the

2020 Polaris Music Prize The 2020 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 ...

. The band consists of singer and guitarist Kris Harper, bassist Matthew Cardinal and drummer Marek Tyler, all members of the Cree nation.Mike Usinger
"Following no one's rules, nêhiyawak proudly looks to both the past and the future with nipiy"
''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

'', December 4, 2019. Their style blends

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...

with

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

, sung in both English and

Plains Cree Plains Cree may refer to: * Plains Cree language * Plains Cree people Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically liv ...

. They originally convened to compose and perform the film score for ''ôtênaw'', a documentary film about Cree educator Dwayne Donald;Laura Stanley
"nêhiyawak Tackle the Past and Sound Like the Future on 'starlight'"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', December 6, 2018. they followed up with a self-titled independent three song EP in 2017 before signing to

Arts & Crafts Productions Arts & Crafts Productions is a music-focused media and artist services company that offers information as an independent record label, management firm, merchandiser, and publisher worldwide. It has earned 21 Juno Awards. Arts & Crafts has been ...

, which released the EP ''Starlight'' in 2018 and ''nipiy'' in 2019.

References

External links

Arts & Crafts Records Page

Bandcamp Page

KillBeat Music Page
Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups from Edmonton First Nations musical groups Arts & Crafts Productions artists Canadian shoegaze musical groups {{Authority control