Digging Roots is a Canadian musical group consisting of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, whose musical style blends folk-rock, pop, blues, and hip hop.[1][2] They won the Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year in 2010 for their album We Are....[3]

Kanatakta is originally from Winneway, Quebec, while Kish is from the Batchewana First Nation in Northern Ontario.[4]

History

Formed in 2004, the duo released their first album Seeds in 2006. The album was a nominee for the Aboriginal Album of the Year Juno at the Juno Awards of 2007.[5] They followed with We Are... in 2009, which featured collaborations with Tanya Tagaq, DJ Bear Witness of A Tribe Called Red and Kinnie Starr, who also produced the album.[6] Their third album For the Light was released in 2014.[2]

They won the Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Group in 2007.[7]

In 2016, the band performed at the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival[8] and at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.[9] In 2017 they performed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.[10]

In 2018, Shoshona was awarded the Womex 18 Professional Excellence Award while Raven was awarded the Cobalt Award at the 2016 Maple Blues Awards.[11]

After organizing three International Indigenous Music Summits together, Kish partnered with singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume in 2021 to form Ishkōdé Records.[12] The label releases music by Rheaume, Digging Roots, and singer-songwriters Aysanabee and Morgan Toney.[13]

Discography

Studio albums

  • Seeds (2006)
  • We Are (2009)
  • For the Light (2014)
  • Zhawenim (2022)

[14]

Singles

  • Ak47 (2016)
  • The Healer (2021)
  • Cut My Hair (2021)
  • SKODEN (2022)

References

No tags for this post.