Indigenous Canadian artist Shawnee Kish’s eclectic new EP ‘Revolution’ is an ode to self-discovery – Now Toronto
Music is medicine for Shawnee Kish, the Juno nominated artist whose sophomore EP Revolution dropped on October 20.
Ahead of its release and a career-defining performance at the Drake Underground, Kish sat down with Now Toronto to discuss her latest work.
Kish is a two-spirit, Indigenous performer originally from Welland, Ontario, now based in Fort Erie, whose kinship with music began as far back as she can remember.
The term two-spirit refers specifically to Indigenous people who identify with any number of gender variances, sexual preferences, spiritual traits and roles within their communities.
Kish told Now that as a young person, she struggled to reconcile the conflicting elements of her character, but was always able to seek refuge through music; today she attributes her deep-rooted sense of self to its grounding qualities.
“My relationship with music I think started when I was born, ” Kish recalls with a giggle, “it was always playing in the house,” she said. “I use music as a form of healing and medicine for myself and hopefully for other people,” she added, in reference to her recently released project.
