As musician Aysanabee stood on stage at last year’s Junos in Halifax accepting the award for alternative album of the year, a memory of the final conversation he had with his late grandfather was on his mind.
It was May 2023. The Oji-Cree singer-songwriter’s grandfather told him, “Do the things you say you’re gonna do.”
The comment stuck with Aysanabee and as he gave thanks at the awards show to the people who opened doors for him, he made a pledge.
“I’m going to try and take those hinges off and bring you all with me,” he said.
Fast forward to today and he’s on his first headlining tour, which will see him play shows in Eastern Canada over the next month, including seven in Nova Scotia.
To open doors for other musicians, he’s having different Indigenous artists open the shows, as well as promoting them on his social media channels. Aysanabee said he also wants to be a resource to the openers and answer any questions they have.
“I just want to foster a music community where it’s just kind of healthy and people are trying to uplift each other,” said Aysanabee, who lives in Toronto, but is originally from Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario.
How to apply
To apply, he’s asking people to email a performance video, which could even just be someone recording themselves on their phone, as well as say what shows they’d like to open and write a paragraph about why they make music.
Even if the opening slots are booked up, Aysanabee said he wants people to contact him as there may be opportunities in the future.
Mi’kmaw musician DeeDee Austin, who lives in Fall River, N.S., but is a member of the Abegweit First Nation, is opening four shows in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
“I feel personally that there’s so many Indigenous artists that get kind of just swept under the rug, so for Aysanabee to kind of help us break out from under the rug and kind of showcase us and turn us on to his audience, it’s really honourable,” said the pop musician.
Austin said she noticed many of the openers would be considered up and comers, so they need as much publicity as they can get.
She’s looking forward to the shows.
“Whenever you get an opportunity to open up for any artist, you kind of bring both communities together,” she said. “And in fact, you get to kind of turn each other on to your audiences and you get to showcase each other to your music and your art.”
Emma Stevens, a Mi’kmaw musician from Eskasoni First Nation, is the opener for the Glace Bay, N.S., show. She hopes the opportunity allows her to reach a broader audience beyond the East Coast base she’s established.
“Hopefully, I can bring him some of my audience and he can bring me some of his audience and it’ll be a blast,” said the folk-country-pop musician.
How Dan Mangan helped inspire Aysanabee’s idea
Aysanabee is encouraging people to show up early and not miss the opening acts. Otherwise, he cautioned there are some things people will miss out on.
“That’s as far as I can go into that,” he said.
For Aysanabee, the idea to showcase the openers is also rooted in experiences he had opening for other musicians, such as Dan Mangan and Allison Russell.
In the case of a fall 2023 tour with Mangan, Aysanabee remembers worrying about how he would have to drive overnight and through the day to get to gigs.
But the worries were moot because Mangan invited Aysanabee to travel on the tour bus.
“He’s like, ‘No, man. You’re part of the team … just pay it forward down the road,'” said Aysanabee.
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