Aysanabee

Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree singer-songwriter from Canada, whose debut album Watin was released in 2022.

[1] A member of the Sandy Lake First Nation, he was born Evan Pang, with a non-inherited surname his mother chose in an attempt to protect him from anti-indigenous racism by portraying him to the community as Asian instead of indigenous, and raised in Kaministiquia, Ontario, outside of Thunder Bay.

[2] He played in various bands as a sideline, and began actively creating his own original music as an outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[4] He was the first outside artist signed to Ishkōdé Records, a new label launched in 2021 by singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume and ShoShonna Kish of the band Digging Roots.

[10] He performed "We Were Here (It's in My Blood)" at the live gala on March 13, backed by the traditional indigenous round dance group Northern Cree;[11] he also received praise for his performance outfit, a long jacket designed by Travis Shilling with feathers representing the Canadian Indian residential school gravesites.