Laura Niquay

Last summer, Laura Niquay was awarded the annual TD Indigenous Songwriter Award. This critically acclaimed Attikamek artist from Trois-Rivières, Quebec is being recognized for her songs Moteskano' and Nicto Kicko, which offer a glimpse into her energized folk-grunge universe. Since childhood in the small community of Wemotaci in Mauricie, Niquay had been nourished by her family’s classical guitar sounds which inspired her to pick up a guitar to compose her own songs.

Laura says, “I have always sung my own compositions, I do not sing the songs of other artists. I will never be an interpreter… It stresses me out too much.”

This self-described “messenger” possesses an incomparable voice which she lends to singing in Atikamekw, her mother tongue and the most common Indigenous language in Quebec. Laura’s latest album, Waska Matisiwin, was finely crafted over several years with the assistance of sidekick Simon Walls and the production team at Musique Nomade. The result is a multi-layered, luminous and complex opus that earned her a place on the 2021 Polaris Music Prize Long List. Laura admits, “Living conditions in my community are difficult, with many problems of addiction and suicide. But I talk about life through a prism of hope, perseverance and resilience…Music, songs, they're like therapy for me.”