'We're here to to stay': South Asian artists and communities celebrate new Juno Awards category

South Asian community members and artists in the Greater Toronto Area say the Juno Awards' newest category is validating and that mainstream recognition is long overdue.

Two Toronto-area musicians are making history with nominations in the inaugural South Asian Music Recording of the Year award: Indo-Canadian Jonita Gandhi, who grew up in Mississauga, and Yanchan Rajmohan, a Tamil-Canadian producer from Scarborough known as Yanchan Produced.  "It's still a wild moment for me, to be honest. I've been dreaming about this," Yanchan told CBC News. "I'm just grateful and happy that our moment is coming."

South Asian artists often appear on Junos' nomination lists, but this year's award show on Sunday will formally recognize their music and international impact.

"Canada has proven to be at the epicentre of South Asian music globally," a Junos media release reads.

"South Asian Music Recording of the Year will celebrate recordings throughout the diaspora, supporting their tremendous growth and success."

Yanchan's track Chai and Sunshine with singer Anjulie was acclaimed by Rihanna and Selena Gomez, and Gandhi is one of Bollywood's biggest playback singers. This is the first Juno nomination for each of them, with Gandhi the only woman nominated in the South Asian category. Gandhi says the journey to this moment has been unbelievable. She went from being teased at school for how she looked to reaching global fame. "When I was young, I was kind of just trying to assimilate into the culture here in Toronto. I wanted to fit in and do what's cool and that was probably in my head, singing in English and ignoring the fact that my mom was packing rotis for my lunch that day," said Gandhi. "I think if someone was to tell me back then that this would be my life, the little version of me would never believe it."

Folk singer and former radio producer Harjot Ghuman-Matharu says the award is an "incredible addition" to the Junos and reflects the hard work artists have been putting in for years, if not decades. 

"It's very validating to have our music and our culture being recognized, because it is Canadian — it is Canadian music," she said. "We've been here for over 100 years in Canada, and we are part of the cultural shift and the cultural norm within Canada."

Despite South Asian artists' success and crossovers into the mainstream, pushback still exists, says Ikky, a Punjabi music producer from Rexdale, who has worked with the likes of Tory Lanez, OneRepublic, and the late Sidhu Moose Wala.

"I think when we did the Junos, a lot of people were upset about it," Ikky told Q earlier this month, referring to his 2024 Junos performance with rapper Karan Aujla.

"People were like, 'If this is Canada, I don't want to be a part of it.' And I was like, 'I'm born here though'... I want to see Canada kind of open their minds up to music at least."

Looking ahead to the weekend's award ceremonies in Vancouver, Yanchan says when he and his fellow nominees arrive, it'll make a bold statement. 

"We're here to stay, and we have a seat at the table," he said.

The winner of the South Asian Music Recording of the Year will be announced on Saturday during the Junos Awards Gala and the event will be live streamed on CBC Gem.