Edmonton-centered Métis singer-songwriter Celeigh Cardinal has acquired one particular of the optimum honours in Canadian songs.
Cardinal acquired a 2020 Juno Award for Indigenous Artist of the 12 months on Monday all through a particular digital ceremony just after the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled in-person ceremonies that ended up set to take area in Saskatoon in March.
As a substitute of walking the purple carpet, Cardinal viewed the announcement from house.
“Has it sunk in however? I really don’t think so,” Cardinal stated in an interview Wednesday with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
“But there is a silver lining to not becoming capable to wander throughout the phase and receive the award and it is that I obtained to sit with my loved ones. My son was there and my two greatest pals.
“To obtain out I gained the award with them, that was fairly amazing and I really don’t know if I would want to trade that for nearly anything.”
The recognition follows the 2019 release of Cardinal’s critically-acclaimed unbiased album Tales From A Downtown Condominium.
Immediately after much more than two decades in the industry, splitting her time between songs and motherhood, the award feels like validation, Cardinal stated.
“You compose these tracks and you’re telling stories about your existence,” she stated. “And you just hope that it is attention-grabbing enough for persons to like it and relate to it in some way, and I truly feel like which is took place.
“That makes me truly feel like it’s possible I am on the correct route.”
Cardinal — initially from Grande Prairie — has lived in Edmonton for decades and her critically-acclaimed album drew inspiration from the metropolis.
The artwork for the album was shot from her downtown apartment, with numerous of the tracks composed on the piano correct beside the sofa on the include art.
The album revolves about her encounters residing in the city’s downtown but at its main, it is a break up file.
“There are really like tracks and there are also heartbreak tracks,” Cardinal stated.
“My most well known track is The Satan is a Blue-Eyed Man which is mainly about the simple fact that I have a pattern of falling in really like with adult males with blue eyes and it has hardly ever worked out for me however.
“We all have these designs and human encounters like falling in really like can be heartbreaking, and persons see themselves there.”
Cardinal stated she was in Saskatoon when the Juno ceremonies ended up initially cancelled and the pandemic commenced sending Canadians into isolation. She had just returned from a festival gig in Germany. She rented a car or truck and drove house.
‘The globe just stopped’
She’s taken the weeks of isolation to reconnect with her songs. Immediately after a short reprieve from composing, she strategies to file an album this wintertime.
“In the beginning, it just felt like the globe just stopped,” she stated. “I came house to my apartment and existence had fully transformed. I’ve definitely taken some time to sluggish down due to the fact things ended up fairly mad for me.
“In the beginning, the songwriting was not going on. I allow the songs go to the facet for a though but now I form of truly feel a wave of songwriting coming.”
Of the five nominees for Indigenous Artist or Group of the 12 months, Edmonton-centered Cree band nêhiyawak was also nominated, recognized for their debut album Nipiy.
Cardinal stated she hopes to use her Juno win to aid advertise other Indigenous artists throughout Canada.
“We have a fairly slim thought of what Indigenous artists do … And there is just so significantly much more than that.”
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