Aqyila, one of four SOCAN Viral Song Award 2022 winners, chats with us about the line, “It’s your hijab for me,” from her viral hit “Vibe for Me (Bob For Me)” — and the message of self-confidence that has sparked more than two million unique videos on TikTok.
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On Oct. 7, 2022, Québec’s North Coast hosted, for the first time, the Teweikan Indigenous Music Gala, organized by the Société de communication Atikamekw Montagnais (SOCAM). This fourth edition of the Gala was held in Sept-Îles and, as usual, its mission was to highlight the musical talent of the First Nations and Inuit of Québec and Labrador.
Innu artists shone brightly during the evening, and won in seven of the gala’s 11 categories. Uashat mak Mani-utenam singer Scott-Pien Picard and Atikamekw artist Laura Niquay won the most statuettes, with three each. Picard walked away with the honours in the Indigenous Language, Blues/Rock, and Best Album categories, while Niquay was victorious in those for Folk, Best Female or Male Singer, and Jury Award.
Absent for health reasons, singer-songwriter Florent Vollant (formerly of Kashtin) was celebrated with the Tribute and Recognition Award, given to an artist who’s left their mark and advanced the cause of the First Nations. Innu, or Métis people. Vollant’s children accepted the award in his name.
Many of the nominated artists in the various categories performed, and showcased the creativity and musical excellence of the First Nations of Québec and Labrador and the Inuit of Nunavik. Among the highlights of the Gala were the tributes paid to the teueikan (drum) players and to the women who have contributed to the preservation of Indigenous languages and culture.
Here is the full list of the winners of the 2022 Teweikan Gala:
Roots Music
Kathia Rock
Indigenous Language
Scott-Pien Picard
Modern Music
Samian
Country
Petapan
Folk
Laura Niquay
Blues/Rock
Scott-Pien Picard
Next Generation
Kathia Rock
Best Album
Scott-Pien Picard
Best Female or Male Singer
Laura Niquay
Jury Award
Laura Niquay
Tribute and Recognition Award
Florent Vollant
SOCAN warmly congratulates all the winners on these great achievements!
After 12 years of silence, crucial Québec punk band Vulgaires Machins is back with its signature protest songs, full of heady choruses and joyous riffs. On Disruption, the band’s eighth album, the quartet demonstrates that it’s possible to evolve and re-invent yourself musically, in order to avoid repeating what you’ve done before, but ultimately remain relevant to your era. And if Vulgaires Machins is, first and foremost, a vehicle to share the lucid vision of its two songwriters, Guillaume Beauregard and Marie-Ève Roy, it’s she who’s driving that vehicle by getting more involved than ever in the writing and interpretation of their songs. If the subject this time is more focused on introspection and the search for meaning and empathy than on cynical social criticism, some songs are witness the evolution of the group’s musical signature along some surprising avenues. We invited the creative couple to a virtual meeting so that they could tell us more about the process, and the reflection, that led to the album Disruption.
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