| Waseskwan Iskwew (English: "Blue Sky Woman"), (born Meghan Meisters, 1981), known mononymously as iskwē (cree syllabics: ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ, formerly transliterated IsKwé) is a singer-songwriter and activist of Cree Métis ancestry from Treaty 1 Territory.Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, iskwē has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto, and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario.Bridging cross-cultural aesthetics while exploring her own struggle to both fit into and break away from modern Western archetypes has been an important part of iskwē's artistic vision since the release of her WCMA nominated self-titled debut album. She released her debut album Iskwé in 2013. Her debut single "Nobody Knows," produced by Juno Award nominees The Darcys and featured in the Netflix series Between, turned a spotlight on the more than 1200 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.iskwē followed up with a number of singles before releasing The Fight Within. In 2018, she received a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination for the song "Healers". The Fight Within garnered a win at the 2017 Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMA) for Electronic/Dance Artist of the Year, she also received a Juno Award nomination for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018 and was longlisted for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.iskwē's third album, acākosīk, was released on 8 November 2019. The album won a Juno Award for Music Video of the Year for the song Little Star directed by Sarah Legault and a was a Juno Award nominee for Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020, and her song "Breaking Down" was shortlisted for the 2020 SOCAN Songwriting Prize and the video PRISM Prize.iskwē's fourth album "The Stars" was released 5 March 2021 and is a reimagination of her album "acākosīk", featuring new arrangements (by Darren Fung) of six songs with iskwē accompanied by a trio of piano (Michael Shand), cello (Mariel Gonzalez), and violin (Laura C Bates) recorded live-of-the-floor at Revolution Recording in Toronto and a dramatic orchestral reimagining of “Night Danger (Lovers Mix)” recorded with the FILMharmonic Orchestra (Prague). "The Stars" is the inverse of her 2019 album acākosīk, starting with the title which is the English translation of the cree word acākosīk. Where acākosīk is a blaze of sonic exploration, The Stars is an elegant and intimate collection of songs allowing iskwē’s songwriting, voice, and spirit to shine. Where acākosīk demanded our attention, The Stars invites us into an emotional and soulful experience.She is slated to perform in the 2021 virtual edition of Pride Toronto. |
