The Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Association (SIMA) celebrated some of the best musicians in the industry on Saturday, while also remembering a few who had passed away.
SIMA hosted the third Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Awards in Prince Albert. SIMA President Donny Parenteau said the affair was a solemn one with the recent passing of Rene Constant and Seth Constant of the band Constant Reminder and the passing in April of former Willard Ahenakew Award winner Lawrence Joseph.
“Regardless of what they play, what style of music, there’s a bond you have. It’s like the life of music,” Parenteau said.
“When you get together and when you lose part of that, it’s like losing part of your family. So yes, we all mourn. We mourn the loss of the boys, Seth and Rene, they’re definitely going to be missed,” he added.
Parenteau said Joseph was a personal friend who acted as a mentor for many people and would be missed.
“It’s like Andrea Menard said, we also have to learn to breathe through times like this,” Parenteau said. “They would not want us to stop. Keep moving forward, keep doing what we’re doing, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
There were two separate moments of silence for the Constant brothers, one during the opening prayer by Elder Harriet Oaks and another before the ceremony began officially led by emcees Ken Landers and Andrea Menard.
Joseph’s daughter and SIMS Vice President Sheryl Kimbley paid tribute to him during the President and Vice President’s address at the opening of the show.
Parenteau said that with the third awards done he will already be thinking about year number four.
“I usually just go home when I’m wrapped up tonight and I try to sleep in in the morning, but it doesn’t happen because then I’m thinking of next year already,” he explained. “That’s the way my brain works. I’m just constantly thinking, what can we do? What can we do better? What can we learn from and make it better? Because that’s how you learn. It’s like learning an instrument.”
One way the awards got larger this year was bringing in Charlie Major and Menard for the 2025 version.
Andrea Menard performed to open the third annual Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Awards hosted by the Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Association (SIMA) at the EA Rawlinson Centre on Saturday night.
Charlie Major performed to open the third annual Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Awards hosted by the Saskatchewan Indigenous Music Association (SIMA) at the EA Rawlinson Centre on Saturday night.
“We love having Charlie Major and Andrea Menard,” Parenteau said.
Major opened and closed out the evening with a performance. Both performances received an enthusiastic response from the audience.
Other performers on the evening included Julianna Parenteau, Darryl Anderson, Andrea Menard, Ali Fontaine, the SIMA 2025 Band led by Parenteau and Terri Anne Strongarm.
“I’m so proud of all the performers,” Parenteau said. “I’m definitely proud to work with the house band and be the band leader. I’d follow these guys anywhere and lead them. They’re fantastic musicians.”
Terri Anne Strongarm was a multiple award winner taking home the Fan’s Choice Award at the end of the evening along with the Emerging Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year Awards.
Carl Crane was awarded the Willard Ahenakew Award and the Indigenous Language Recording of the Year. The winner of the Gospel Recording of the Year Award was Donald McCallum. Julianna Parenteau was awarded Youth Award. The Pow Wow Drum Group of the Year was awarded to Grey Buffalo.
The Song of the Year Award was presented to Big Tones for the song “Shine”. The Country/Roots Performer of the Year Award winner was Darryl Anderson. The Male Artist of the Year was JJ Lavallee. The Rock/Heavy Metal/Blues Artist or Group of the Year was Black Rain.
The winner of the Rap/Hip Hop Person of Group of the Year was RaytheNihilist.
Parenteau said the possibility of expanding the awards again is always in the air.
“You never know what categories are going to be out there,” he said. “We just got to keep doing what we’re doing and get the word out there.”
During the ceremony Menard observed that Indigenous Music used to be confined to only one category in larger awards ceremonies and now it has expanded to include everything from hip hop to gospel and Indigenous Language recordings. Parenteau added that he agreed with her assessment.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
