Indigenous Manitoban inspiring young Canadians with new song

Mattmac may be blind, but that is not stopping him from creating moving music.

He is debuting his first single, 'Paradise', that will be part of an upcoming album being released within the next month or two.

Mattmac's new music is meant to convey inspiration to young people facing hardships in their life. 

Mattmac knows a thing or two about hardships. He was born blind, yet he continues to live life with a bright disposition.

"I grew up in a Christian-oriented house and that influenced my outlook on life, just to keep positive."

He has been spending quite a bit of time in Winnipeg recently, which is where he shot the video for this song.

"I come from Garden Hill First Nation which is a fly-in remote community, in Northeastern Manitoba."

Mattmac's mom still lives up north. She has been a huge inspiration to him. 

"I think she's pretty proud and she's so supportive of my music."

He says he is very grateful for his mother's support. 

"My earliest memories of music is when I was two or three. I remember my mom had the radio on and back home they would always do these gospel jamborees. I've been singing since age 4."

From that young age up until 8-years-old, Mattmac would sing in these groups.

"When I was younger I used to sing a lot in these gospel jamborees."

Mattmac says he is spreading a message to bring awareness through this music, which is pop trap beats.

"You can achieve so much with so little," says Mattmac. "You don't need to have a million dollars to make a huge impact."

Mattmac shot the video for this single in iconic places in Winnipeg, including Polo Park shopping mall and The Forks Marketplace. 

Well-known in the Indigenous community, Mattmac performed with Nelly Furtado at Indigenous Day Live and We Day Canada Day on Parliament Hill in 2017. He was the keynote speaker at We Day Winnipeg in 2019.

Mattmac also attributes his success to the Blind & Famous group, a USA based collective of blind music artists.

Although young, Mattmac has already been performing through speaking and singing across Canada.