3 week_ago
11
Toronto
South Asian assemblage members and artists successful the Greater Toronto Area accidental the Juno Awards' newest class is validating and that mainstream designation is agelong overdue.
2 GTA artists nominated for South Asian Music Recording of the Year
Britnei Bilhete · CBC News
· Posted: Mar 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago
South Asian assemblage members and artists successful the Greater Toronto Area accidental the Juno Awards' newest class is validating and that mainstream designation is agelong overdue.
Two Toronto-area musicians are making past with nominations successful the inaugural South Asian Music Recording of the Year award: Indo-Canadian Jonita Gandhi, who grew up successful Mississauga, and Yanchan Rajmohan, a Tamil-Canadian shaper from Scarborough known arsenic Yanchan Produced.
"It's inactive a chaotic infinitesimal for me, to beryllium honest. I've been dreaming astir this," Yanchan told CBC News. "I'm conscionable grateful and blessed that our infinitesimal is coming."
South Asian artists often look connected Junos' information lists, but this year's grant amusement connected Sunday volition formally admit their euphony and planetary impact.
"Canada has proven to beryllium astatine the epicentre of South Asian euphony globally," a Junos media merchandise reads.
"South Asian Music Recording of the Year volition observe recordings passim the diaspora, supporting their tremendous maturation and success."
WATCH | The GTA's Punjabi euphony epicentre: How Brampton, Ont. became a powerhouse wrong the Punjabi euphony industry
Yanchan's way Chai and Sunshine with vocalist Anjulie was acclaimed by Rihanna and Selena Gomez, and Gandhi is 1 of Bollywood's biggest playback singers. This is the first Juno information for each of them, with Gandhi the lone pistillate nominated successful the South Asian category.
Gandhi says the travel to this infinitesimal has been unbelievable. She went from being teased astatine schoolhouse for however she looked to reaching planetary fame.
"When I was young, I was benignant of conscionable trying to assimilate into the civilization present successful Toronto. I wanted to acceptable successful and bash what's chill and that was astir apt successful my head, singing successful English and ignoring the information that my ma was packing rotis for my lunch that day," said Gandhi.
"I deliberation if idiosyncratic was to archer maine backmost past that this would beryllium my life, the small mentation of maine would ne'er judge it."
Folk vocalist and erstwhile vigor shaper Harjot Ghuman-Matharu says the grant is an "incredible addition" to the Junos and reflects the hard enactment artists person been putting successful for years, if not decades.
"It's precise validating to have our euphony and our civilization being recognized, due to the fact that it is Canadian — it is Canadian music," she said. "We've been present for implicit 100 years successful Canada, and we are portion of the taste displacement and the taste norm wrong Canada."
Despite South Asian artists' success and crossovers into the mainstream, pushback inactive exists, says Ikky, a Punjabi euphony shaper from Rexdale, who has worked with the likes of Tory Lanez, OneRepublic, and the precocious Sidhu Moose Wala.
"I deliberation erstwhile we did the Junos, a batch of radical were upset astir it," Ikky told Q earlier this month, referring to his 2024 Junos show with rapper Karan Aujla.
WATCH | Karan Aujla and Ikky perform at the 2024 Junos Karan Aujla feat. Ikky performs 'Admirin You' & 'Softly | Juno Awards 2024
"People were like, 'If this is Canada, I don't privation to beryllium a portion of it.' And I was like, 'I'm calved present though'... I privation to spot Canada benignant of unfastened their minds up to euphony astatine least."
Looking up to the weekend's grant ceremonies successful Vancouver, Yanchan says erstwhile helium and his chap nominees arrive, it'll marque a bold statement.
"We're present to stay, and we person a spot astatine the table," helium said.
The victor of the South Asian Music Recording of the Year volition beryllium announced connected Saturday during the Junos Awards Gala and the lawsuit volition beryllium unrecorded streamed connected CBC Gem.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Britnei Bilhete is simply a newsman with CBC Toronto. She antecedently worked arsenic a shaper with the CBC News societal media squad and reported for CBC Nova Scotia. You tin nonstop your communicative tips to her astatine [email protected].
English (CA) · 
English (US) · 
Spanish (MX) · 
French (CA) ·