An Oji-Cree artist from Garden Hill First Nation in northern Manitoba who’s making waves throughout the nation is now being acknowledged as one of Canada’s finest younger musicians.
Matthew Monias, additionally identified by his stage title Mattmac, is the grand prize winner of Canada’s Walk of Fame RBC Emerging Musician Program.
“Receiving this award has been completely nice,” Monias stated in an interview on CBC Manitoba’s Up To Speed on Thursday.
“It presents itself with many alternatives to community and develop and take this music profession to a complete completely different degree.”
Born blind, Monias began out rapping in his dwelling in Garden Hill First Nation, about 475 kilometres north of Winnipeg, and just lately taught himself to play guitar and piano.
Since launching his music profession in 2016, Monias has labored with Grammy and Juno Award-winning artist Nelly Furtado. His music has been streamed greater than 800,000 instances throughout platforms.
He believes accessibility in music for individuals with disabilities has come a great distance.
Monias makes use of assisted know-how to transform textual content to speech, which helps him navigate all of his social media platforms and apps that he makes use of to supply music.
“What you hear if you happen to go to my Spotify profile or wherever you hearken to your music, a lot of what you hear is achieved by me. Without the know-how and with out the added accessibility options, I would not have the ability to make music like I’m immediately,” he stated.
As the grand prize winner, Mattmac will obtain a money prize of $20,000, efficiency alternatives at Canada’s Walk of Fame occasions and personal studio recording time on the famend Metalworks Studios.
“I’m nonetheless blown away,” Monias stated. “My family and friends, they have been all ecstatic. They have been simply bursting with pleasure.”
Advice to younger artists
He says time, effort and persistence are key for younger artists desirous to comply with in his footsteps.
“Without neither of them, it may be a bit tough and it may make it appear to be you are not transferring. But if you happen to preserve all three, you will get the place you wish to be,” he stated.
“Keep at it and obtain that dream.”
The second place winner is pop singer Jordan Hart of Toronto, whose debut EP, Only Pieces of the Truth, is out now.
The three different finalists have been Mindflip from Gatineau, Cassie Dasilva from Orillia, Ont., and Benjamin Dakota Rogers from Brantford, Ont.