TORONTO—When Canada’s premier celebration of homegrown music, the JUNO Awards, takes place starting at 9 pm on Sunday, March 24 a new group with connections to Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory will be among the nominees. Nimkii and The Niniis are an Indigenous musical collaborative headed up by Wiikwemkoong band member Nimkii Osawamick who have been nominated in the new category of Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year.
“We have been mainly recording powwow songs in the language,” said group founder Mr. Osawamick in conversation with The Expositor. By “the language” he is referring to the Odawa dialect of Anishinaabemowin that predominates in his home community of Wiikwemkoong.
The artist embarked on the project that eventually became Nimkii and The Niniis’ album ‘LFS5’ as he and his bandmates realized that there wasn’t much out there recorded in his mother tongue. “You just don’t hear too much of our songs or stories,” he said.
Mr. Osawamick was effusive in his praise for the members of his group, including Animkiise Stevens, Josh Musgrave, Nimkii Osawamick, Meeg Snake and Kyle Bigcanoe, each of whom added important elements to the success of ‘LFS5.’
Mr. Osawamick credited his aunt, elder Shirley Williams of Wiikwemkoong, as a mentor and source for many of the stories that underpin the songs the group performs. He also paid special attention to the contribution of his partner, Serene Fox, who helped with the recordings.
The project has involved a lot of hard work and represents considerable responsibility, noted Mr. Osawamick, something he is no stranger to, and it shows, as this is his second JUNO nomination.
“The first one was in 2021,” he confirmed. But he decided to step back for a year and since his latest work was not entered in 2023, it qualified for entry this year. The group’s debut EP ‘Nang Giizhigoong’ was a Juno Award nominee for Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards in 2022.
All of the profits from his work, performances and stipends from the powwow trail have been poured into the effort in the form of new equipment and infrastructure to continue recording the songs and stories that form the core of that work. Mr. Osawamick said that he has considered adapting some of that work to contemporary music, but that road currently lies in the future.
The album Nimkii and The Niniis are nominated for is called ‘LFS5’ as a nod to the challenges the group faced while trying to get everything recorded in time, explained Mr. Osawamick. “It stands for Live From Shed Five,” he laughed. In the struggle to get into the recording studio, the group were finally relegated to “Shed 5” for their sessions. The whirlwind experience resulted in an authentic rendition of the songs they had chosen for the EP.
Nimkii and The Niniis will be going up against some stiff competition, including Joel Wood (Sing. Pray. Love.), The Bearhead Sisters (Mitòòdebi—For My Relative), The Red River Ramblers (Reverie) and Young Scouts (Drum Nation).
