Shauit is a Canadian singer-songwriter, who blends traditional
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 ...
music, primarily in the
Innu-aimun
Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada. It is a member of the Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi dialect continuum and is spoken in various dialects depending on the comm ...
language, with pop-rock and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
music.
Originally from
Maliotenam
Maliotenam (Mani-Utenam in Innu-aimun) is a First Nations reserve in Quebec, located adjacent to the city of Sept-Îles. Together with Uashat some distance away, it forms the Innu community of Uashat-Maliotenam. The community is a part of the ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, he is the son of an
Acadian
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
father and an
Innu
The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...
mother. He was raised francophone, and had virtually no knowledge of the Innu language until learning it as a teenager in a bid to reconnect with his indigenous heritage.
He first became known as a frequent collaborator with rapper Samian, appearing as a featured guest performer on several of Samian's singles."Shauit: toujours garder la foi" '' La Presse'', August 5, 2016. He released his debut EP as a solo recording artist in 2016, and followed up with his full-length debut album ''Apu Peikussiaku'' in 2017.
Awards
In 2018 he won an Indigenous Music Award for Best Indigenous-Language Album, and won the
Canadian Folk Music Award
The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...
Félix Award
The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian p ...
41st Félix Awards
The 41st Félix Awards were held on October 27, 2019, to honour achievements in Quebec music. The gala ceremony was hosted by Louis-José Houde, and televised by Ici Radio-Canada Télé.
Nominees were announced in September.Olivier Boisvert-Mag ...
in 2019 and at the
42nd Félix Awards
The 42nd Félix Awards were held on November 1, 2020 to honour achievements in Quebec music.Cédric Bélanger"Gala de l'ADISQ: l’année des Cowboys Fringants" ''Le Journal de Québec'', November 1, 2020. The gala ceremony was hosted by Louis- ...