Indigenous music of Canada includes many different types of music made by Aboriginal Canadians. Before Europeans arrived in what is now Canada, the area was home to many First Nations groups, such as the West Coast Salish and Haida, the Iroquois, Blackfoot, and Huron in the center, the Dene in the north, and the Innu and Mi'kmaq in the east, as well as the Cree in the north. Each community had and still has its own special musical traditions. Chanting, which is a form of singing, is widely used. Most communities use many different musical instruments.
History
Traditionally, Indigenous Canadians used natural materials to make their musical instruments for many years before Europeans arrived in Canada. First Nation bands created rattles from gourds and animal horns, often carving and painting them beautifully. In woodland areas, they used birchbark for horns and carved antlers or wood for drumsticks. Drums were usually made from carved wood and animal hides. Drums and rattles are percussion instruments that First Nations people used to accompany songs, and songs were used to support dances. Many traditional First Nations people view song and dance as sacred. After Europeans arrived in Canada, First Nations people were often not allowed to practice their ceremonies. This is one reason why there is not much information available about First Nations music and instruments.
Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit, did not have a word for music as understood by European listeners or ethnomusicologists. Studies suggest that the concept of music as we know it may not have been part of their culture. The closest word, nipi, includes music, speech sounds, and noise.
Today, there is a growing pride in First Nations art and music, and people are rediscovering the beauty of traditional art, music, and instruments. Drums are closely linked to First Nations cultures. Some people say, "Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth." First Nations created many types of drums, including small ones used by healers, hand drums shaped like tambourines, warrior drums, water drums, and large ceremonial drums. The size and shape of drums depend on the culture of the First Nation and the purpose of the drum. Many are decorated with symbols and patterns. In many First Nations cultures, the circle is an important shape, representing the sun, moon, and their paths across the sky. Traditional homes like tipis and wigwams were also circular. Villages were often arranged in circles, and today, many First Nations people still hold meetings in a circle, beginning with a prayer while standing together and holding hands.
Hand-carved wooden flutes and whistles are less common than drums but are still part of traditional music. Some groups, like the Chippewa, used flutes to play for loved ones or to comfort people during difficult times. The Cree, Iroquois, and Maliseet made and used whistles. Evidence shows that the Beothuk, an extinct group from Newfoundland, also used wooden whistles and flutes. The human voice is the most important instrument in First Nations music. Singing is central to traditions, and every song originally belonged to a person, group, or ceremony. In some cultures, people could buy the right to sing a song from its owner, who would then teach it to them. Many traditional songs are still sung by those who follow traditional ways.
Today, many artists mix First Nations and Inuit music with popular music styles like country, rock, hip hop, or electronic dance music. The Polaris Music Prize was awarded to Tanya Tagaq for Animism in 2014 and to Jeremy Dutcher for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in 2018 and Motewolonuwok in 2024. In 2017, the prize went to Lido Pimienta for La Papessa; Pimienta is of South American Indigenous heritage. In 2015, the prize was given to Buffy Sainte-Marie for Power in the Blood. Sainte-Marie claimed First Nations heritage at the time, but later reports questioned this claim.
The compilation album Native North America, Vol. 1, released by Light in the Attic Records in 2014, includes rare and previously unavailable songs by First Nations and Inuit musicians from the time when rock, country, and folk music began influencing Indigenous music.
Music areas
Eastern Woodlands Native Americans, as described by Nettl, live in a large area of the United States and Canada. They are known for antiphony, which is a call-and-response singing style not found in other regions. Their territory includes Maritime Canada, New England, the U.S. Mid-Atlantic, the Great Lakes, and the Southeast. Their songs have complex rhythms, with frequent changes in meter and are closely linked to ritual dances. Flutes and whistles are played by individuals, while drums, rattles, and striking sticks are used in groups. Nettl describes the Eastern music area as the region between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean. The most complex styles are found among the Southeastern Creek, Yuchi, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois, and their language group. The simpler style is found among the Algonquian language group, including the Delaware and Penobscot. The Algonquian-speaking Shawnee have a more complex style influenced by nearby Southeastern tribes.
The characteristics of this area include short repeated phrases, shouts before, during, and after singing, anhematonic pentatonic scales, simple rhythms and meter, and antiphonal or responsorial techniques, including "rudimentary imitative polyphony." Melodies generally move downward gradually, and vocals include a moderate amount of tension and pulsation.
Plains-area music, which extends across the American Midwest into the Canadian Prairies, is nasal with high pitches and frequent falsettos. It features a terraced descent, which is a step-by-step drop in pitch within an unblended monophony. Songs are divided into two parts, with the second part repeated before returning to the beginning. Large double-sided skin drums are common among Plains tribes, as are solo end-blown flutes (flageolet).
Nettl describes the central Plains tribes, from Canada to Texas, including the Blackfoot, Crow, Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche, as the most typical and simple sub-area of the Plains-Pueblo music area. This area's music is marked by extreme vocal tension, pulsation, a preference for perfect fourths, a range averaging a tenth, rhythmic complexity, and frequent use of tetratonic scales. The Arapaho and Cheyenne intensify these features, while northern tribes, such as the Blackfoot, have simpler material, smaller melodic ranges, and fewer scale tones.
Arapaho music includes ceremonial and secular songs, such as the ritualistic Sun Dance, performed in the summer when Arapaho bands gather. Traditional Arapaho songs have two sections with terraced descent, a range greater than an octave, and scales with four to six tones. Other ceremonial songs were received in visions or taught during men's initiations into age groups. Secular
Contributions of First Nations music to Canadian culture
Edward Gamblin was a country rock singer and songwriter. He is widely recognized as one of the most important artists in the history of First Nations music. He is known for being one of the first artists to build a successful career by focusing on First Nations audiences instead of trying to appeal to a wider audience.
Donald Harvey Francks, also known as Iron Buffalo, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was a drummer, poet, champion for Native Nations, motorcyclist, author, and peace activist. He was interested in Tibet and supported Greenpeace. He performed many times at George's Spaghetti House, a jazz club in Toronto that was similar to New York's Birdland. He also played drums at the Colonial Tavern and other Toronto clubs and jazz venues.
Robbie Robertson was a Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for being a member of The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Robertson was born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother. He took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried. He first learned about music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, where he spent summers with his mother's family. He studied guitar as a young person and wrote songs and performed since he was a teenager. From 1987 onward, Robertson released four solo albums. His first was named after himself, followed by Storyville, Music for the Native Americans, and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.
Jerry Alfred is a First Nations singer and storyteller who helps preserve First Nations language and traditions. He is the Northern Tutchone "Keeper of the Songs." He lives in Pelly Crossing, a village in central Yukon, 300 kilometers north of Whitehorse. He was born in the nearby community of Mayo. Jerry kept his Tutchone language even after spending many years in a residential school. Like his father before him, Jerry was named a Song Keeper at birth. A Song Keeper collects songs and sings them at potlatches and other First Nations ceremonies. Jerry is a self-taught guitarist who combines modern guitar techniques with traditional music from his people. His 1994 recording, Etsi Shon or Grandfather Song, helps keep his language and the spirit of his people alive.
Don Ross is a guitarist and composer. He is the son of a Mi'kmaq mother and a Scottish immigrant father. He is a member of the Mi'kmaq community at Millbrook, Nova Scotia. Don was born and raised in Montreal and speaks both French and English. He earned an honors degree in fine arts (music) at York University in Toronto. He is one of the most respected musicians in Canada and is known as one of the top guitarists in the world. In September 1996, Don won the prestigious U.S. National Fingerstyle Championship for the second time and is the only guitarist to have done so. In 1988, Don was the first Canadian and first Indigenous person to win this prize.
Don is a master of "fingerstyle" technique, which is similar to the technique used for classical guitar. His music is influenced by jazz, folk, rock, and classical music, creating a personal style. Don calls his style "heavy wood!"
Buffy Sainte-Marie is an Italian-American who was adopted as an adult into the Piapot First Nation. She received a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a songwriter, performer, and artist who wrote hit songs performed by other famous artists, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. Her song Up Where We Belong won an Academy Award. Buffy has earned many awards, including an Academy Award and the United States award for Lifetime Musical Achievement in the Arts. She also received a medal of recognition from Queen Elizabeth II. France named her "Best International Artist of 1993." She has drawn large crowds to her performances, including an audience of 100,000 in one concert in Denmark. She regularly performs in small First Nations communities. In 1993, she helped create a special award category within the Juno Awards to recognize the best recordings by Canadian Indigenous musicians. Buffy received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts at the 1998 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
The duo quickly became popular in Quebec. In 1988, they were featured in a documentary about the Innu for a Quebec television station. They were brought to Montreal to record and released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Although the album was recorded in their native Innu-aimun language, spoken by only 12,000 people worldwide, the album became a major hit in Quebec and later in English Canada. It was certified double platinum. The singles E Uassiuian and Tshinanu were popular hits for the band.
Leela Gilday is a singer and songwriter born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She is one of the North's better-known performing artists. Since her early start in music, Leela has been nominated for "Best Music of Aboriginal Canada" at the Juno Awards and has won three awards in 2002 from the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards: Best Female Artist, Best Folk Album, and Best Songwriter. She won the 2007 Juno for Aboriginal Recording of the Year for Sedzé, her second album.
Glen Meadmore is an actor and performance artist living in Los Angeles. He has been described as "…the world's greatest exponent of the genre known as gay Christian punk." He is sometimes called "Cowpunk." He worked as a performance artist and performed at the Anti-Club,