TORONTO -- For musician Matthew Monias, music isnāt just a creative outlet, itās a way of showing others nothing can hold him back.
Monias, who goes by the artist name Mattmac, was born blind and recently ā that he wrote, sang, and mixed from his bedroom in Garden Hill First Nation, about 470 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
āIām not one to let my disability hold me back,ā Monias told Ā鶹“«Ć½. āThere needs to be more of that mentality.ā
The 20-year-oldās track is a catchy tune about love, with lyrics that pay homage to his story, including lines such as: āWhen Iām with you, I'm in paradise, I swear my eyes are paralyzed.ā
The song is already gaining momentum and has earned a spot in the regular rotation of several Winnipeg radio stations. As of Thursday evening, āParadiseā sat , a Canadian ranking of the top Indigenous songs from around the world.
āEveryone is really in support of Matthew,ā said David Hodges, a music producer and executive director of Nāwe Jinan, a music education program for Indigenous youth designed to help them gain self-esteem and community empowerment.
āItās not just about the story, this is actually a good song.ā
Things havenāt always been easy for Monais. As a kid, he struggled with depression and remembers the first time he realized was not the same as many of his peers.
ā(My mother) was telling me what colour the trees are, what colour the sky is and what colour is the sunset ā¦ and thatās when I really started realizing: āHey, Iām blind, I canāt see. Iām different from everybody else,āā he said.
While he couldnāt see, he could certainly hear. The gospel music from his mother and the rock and rap music from his siblings became an inspiration. Soon he taught himself how to play various instruments.
āI play the drums, I play the guitar and I play the keyboard,ā he said.
Monias isnāt stopping with just a single either; he was a catalogue of new and old songs set to be released in the coming months.
āI just want to be someone people will look up too, and encourage them to do big things,ā he said.
