Northern Ontario musicians welcome Juno nominations

The Juno nominations were released this week and several musicians from northern Ontario are on the list.

One artist is Greyson Gritt, who is part of the duo Quantum Tangle. That group is nominated for best Indigenous Music Album of the year for the album Tiny Hands.

Gritt now lives in Yellowknife, but grew up in Warren, just outside of Sudbury. However, it was the music education Gritt received at the nearby high school in Noelville that made a lasting impact.

"I loved going to high school in Noelville," Gritt said. "I feel like that's where music got serious for me."

Other northern artists made the cut for the best Indigenous Music Album of the year, including Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie of Sudbury for his album, Round Dance & Beats. Crystal Shawanda from Wikwemikong First Nation also made the list for her album Fish Out of Water.

Shawanda said the title for the album came to her following a conversation with her mother. She said she was frustrated with not fitting in with a particular music genre, as some of her songs fall within country music, and other are more blues or folk.

"It kind of gave me the confidence to say you know what, you're right, I don't fit in a box and I'm okay with that, so I hope everybody else is okay with that," she said.

"So that was the inspiration behind the whole album, you know I just recorded songs that I could relate to, that I felt people could connect to and that I just love to sing."

Another northern Ontario artist who was nominated is Thunder Bay's Coleman Hell, who is up for best pop album forSummerland.

The Junos are scheduled for April 2 in Ottawa.