REDTalks celebrate exceptional ideas and performances from Indigenous artists, change makers, and leaders. Our newest REDTalk features AYSANABEE who performs two of his hottest songs and joins Red Sky Artistic Director Sandra Laronde for a conversation about his remarkable journey from journalism to music and his highly successful debut album.

Aysanabee (Evan Pang) was recently shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Prize. He was nominated for a 2023 JUNO Award for his debut album and performed live at the 2023 Juno Awards national broadcast on CBC TV. He is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer/songwriter currently based in Toronto. Aysanabee is Oji-Cree from Sucker Clan of the Sandy Lake First Nation, a remote fly-in community in northwestern Ontario.

His debut album, Watin, released in November 2022, is named after his grandfather. Featuring the voice and stories of his grandfather, the album is both part music and part journalism, offering a singular new voice steeped in artistry and culture. “We spent the first year of the pandemic talking about things we’ve never spoke about, his life on the trapline on Sandy Lake First Nation, falling in love, his life in residential school and then leaving everything behind… we never spoke of it until now. Even though we were over 1,000 kilometres apart, it was probably the closest we’ve ever been.”

REDTalks inspire, inform, and build ongoing engagement with communities, and contribute to Indigenous cultural resurgence in Canada and around the world. The REDTalks Series has been curated and hosted by Sandra Laronde since 2011.

Red Sky Performance would like to gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Canadian Heritage.