Aysanabee

Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree singer-songwriter from Ontario, Canada, and a member of the Sandy Lake First Nation. He is born Evan Pang and later reclaims his grandfather’s surname, Aysanabee, as an adult.

Early life and background

He is raised in Kaministiquia, Ontario, outside Thunder Bay. As a teenager, he works for a mining company, later studies journalism, and works as a digital content creator for CTV News. His mother gives him the surname Pang in an attempt to protect him from anti-Indigenous racism by presenting him to the community as Asian rather than Indigenous.

Music career

Before focusing on his own material, he plays in various bands on the side. He begins creating original music during the COVID-19 pandemic. After making enough money from a cryptocurrency trade to pay the submission fee, he submits his music to the International Indigenous Music Summit.

He becomes the first outside artist signed to Ishkōdé Records, a label launched in 2021 by Amanda Rheaume and ShoShona Kish of Digging Roots. His debut album, Watin, is released in 2022 and is named for his grandfather’s first name. The album includes recordings of his grandfather, taken from phone conversations during the pandemic and used as spoken interludes. It is preceded by the single “Nomads”, which reaches number one on the CBC Music Top 20, charts on Canadian rock radio airplay, and reaches number one on the Alternative Rock chart in March 2023, making him the first Indigenous Canadian artist to top that chart.

CBC Music names Watin one of the 22 best Canadian albums of 2022, and “Nomads” one of the ten best Canadian songs of the year. Watin is shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. He is nominated for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2023 for Watin.

He releases the EP Here and Now in 2023. It earns a nomination for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year and later wins Alternative Album of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards. He also wins Songwriter of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards for “Here and Now”, becoming the first Indigenous artist to win in those categories. At the live gala on March 13, he performs “We Were Here (It’s in My Blood)” backed by the traditional Indigenous round dance group Northern Cree. His performance outfit is a long jacket designed by Travis Shilling with feathers representing Canadian residential school gravesites.

Awards and recognition

Across his career, he wins two Juno Awards in 2024, for Alternative Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year, and is also shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. His music is associated with alternative folk and folk.