Photo of Cultural Cadence Mentorship Program Meetup attendees at IIMS 2025. Photo taken by Sam Grayner.
During National Indigenous History Month, and any time Indigenous music is celebrated, what often stands out is the diversity of sound, style, and story across our Indigenous communities around the world. What remains the same, though, is a thread that ties us all together: the heart behind the words, the lyrics, the pain, the joy, and the passion. The shared experiences of colonization, of generational trauma, and of the way people are working through those truths through music. Working through it for themselves, for their communities, and for future generations.
From those embedding their language into every note, like Jeremy Pahl in G̱a̱mksimoon, to those folding the power of pow wow drums into new sonic spaces, like Marek Tyler and Cassia Harding with their latest project, Asko, today’s Indigenous music-creators are finding their way home. Reconnecting with themselves, with their culture and with one another.
Twenty years ago, if someone was asked what Indigenous music was, they might’ve pictured the deep heartbeat of pow wow drums, the circle, and the voices in ceremony. Drumming is foundational for our celebrations, our spiritual festivals, and for healing. We dance and sing to the drum because that beat is medicine.
“When we’re hitting that drum, we’re making the heartbeat. When we’re singing, we’re lifting prayers, positive thoughts, and our energy to who needs it. Long before we ever had Western medicine, our music and our dance is what healed our people, kept us well and got us through hard times.” – Joaquin Rojas, lead singer, Red Hoop Singers
But today, if you ask what Indigenous music is, the answers are as diverse as the Nations and Indigenous People shaping it. Not one sound, but instead many truths.
Indigenous music lives in every genre. It’s in hip hop, folk, electronic, country, rock, experimental, traditional, often defying genres altogether like Inuk artist Tanya Taqaq. What makes the music Indigenous isn’t how it sounds, it’s the story behind it. It’s in the intention, the connection and the reclaiming.
There’s an entire ecosystem behind this movement. It’s the producers who understand the weight of a story. The community radio hosts who spotlight voices that might otherwise be missed. The language holders who guide pronunciation and meaning. The managers and mentors who make space in a system trying to shrink us. The beat-makers, dancers, grant-writers, label founders, festival organizers, and Aunties cheering backstage. Every role is part of the medicine.
For us, music is ceremony. Music is a way of processing, healing, and holding space. It’s a way to speak our truth when words alone aren’t enough. We are not only about chasing charts – our music offers something real. Our music offers moments, teachings, feelings, and openings.
At the Indigenous Music Office, we are championing Indigenous Peoples creating music to reconnect with the land, with their language, with their ancestors, and with the next generation. Our purpose is to uplift, empower, and strengthen Indigenous Peoples working in music, their families, and communities.
These songs and sounds are more than compositions. They are evidence that we are still here. Music is proof that our joy, rage, beauty, and brilliance cannot be erased. Our culture, like sound, is evolving but always present.
There’s so much music out there that deserves to be heard.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into Indigenous music, there are several incredible platforms spotlighting artists across Turtle Island. The Indigenous Music Countdown, hosted by Dave McLeod, features the best new Indigenous tracks spanning hip-hop, rock, country, alternative, folk, and pop/dance, along with interviews that highlight the stories behind the music. Over on CBC Music, Reclaimed is a weekly radio show curated by Anishinaabe host Jarrett Martineau, celebrating the diverse sounds of Indigenous artists from Turtle Island and beyond. Madwewetoon, a playlist hosted by Manitoba Music, amplifies Indigenous voices and creativity—this month’s guest curator is Brenton David.
To discover even more powerful Indigenous voices, check out these two features from Recording Arts Canada:
🎧 8 Indigenous Artists Shaping the Canadian Music Scene
🎧 Part 2 – More Indigenous Artists Shaping the Canadian Music Scene
Both articles spotlight artists reclaiming sound, language, and community on their own terms.
If you want to support the Indigenous music ecosystem, listen deeply. Buy the music. Show up for the shows. Follow the engineers, the radio hosts, the cultural producers. Share the stories.
The beauty of Indigenous music is that it doesn’t ask permission or apologize. Our music exists in full truth. Layered, complex, ancestral, present, and future-facing all at once. It’s not one story being told, it’s thousands of voices united. And every note, every role behind that note, brings us closer to home.