A member of the
Abitibiwinni First Nation, Samian was born in Amos and grew up in the community of Pikogan in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and in several other cities in the province of Quebec. His father is Québécois and his mother is Algonquin. He was first noted by participating in the Wapikoni film project in 2004 and would later perform on stage with the Quebec Rap group
Loco Locass. In 2005, Samian collaborated on several projects with Canada's National Film Board, the Department of Indian Affairs and
HARRO décrochage scolaire (school dropout Network), AIDS and problems related to compulsive gambling. In 2006, he won first prize for best music video for his clip
Courage at the United Indigenous Peoples Festival in Pau, France. During this festival, he will play the first part of Florent Vollant, member of Kashtin music group. He was the first musician to sing in both French and Algonquin. He is an inspiration to many Aboriginal youth. His popularity is growing since his revelation to the Festival Voix d'Amérique (America's Voices Festival). The same year, he met with
Anodajay and wrote the song "La Paix des Braves", which referred to the agreement signed respecting a new relationship between the Cree Nation and the Government of Quebec. The song became his first single.
Loco Locass later invited Samian to perform his song on stage at the
Place des Arts in Montreal during the
Loco Locass Symphonique event. He released his debut album,
Face à soi-même, in 2007 on Anodajay's 7ième Ciel Records. In 2007, he was one of the spokesmen at the Quebec Social Forum with Paul Piché and Raoul Duguay. At the
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day festivities on June 24, 2008, Loco Locass and Samian performed "Paix des Braves" in front of tens of thousands of spectators at Maisonneuve Park, as well as millions of viewers on television. His 2010 album
Face à la musique includes a hip hop remake of
Kashtin's "Tshinanu". His rendition does not
sample the original recording; instead, he collaborated directly with the members of Kashtin on a new recording of the song's guitar line and chorus. On May 2, 2010, he appeared on
Tout le monde en parle, bringing awareness to the fact that the
Algonquin language was endangered. In 2013, he acted in the Quebec film
Rock Paper Scissors (Roche papier ciseaux) alongside
Roy Dupuis. On August 4, 2014, Samian did a concert at the
Festival Présence Autochtone, held at Place des Festivals in Montreal, where he was joined by several guests including Loco Locass and Kathia Rock. In 2014, Samian also took part in a program which was broadcast on
APTN titled
Le Rhythme. Alongside
Dany Bédar, Samian was the mentor of several Aboriginal musicians, singers, writers and performers, aged 18 to 30, guiding them through an artistic journey of intensive training, ultimately leading them to the recording of their first album as a group. He has also had acting roles in the films
Scratch (2015),
Hochelaga, Land of Souls (2017),
Bootlegger (2021),
The Inhuman (2021) and
Aller Simple (2022). He won the award for Best Actor at the 2022
American Indian Film Festival for ''L'Inhumain''. He was a
Felix Award nominee for
Indigenous Artist of the Year at the
44th Félix Awards in 2022. ==Discography==