Innu-aimun

The Innu singer-songwriter Philippe Mckenzie was a trailblazing figure in the Canadian Indigenous music community. What was remarkable about his music wasn’t the folk-rock acoustic strum or the stoic, lonesome vocals. What was unique were the Innu-aimun lyrics – Mr. Mckenzie, from the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, was recording in his native tongue, a relatively uncommon practice for Indigenous artists at the time.