Martin Desjarlais

About

Born into a musical family, Martin Desjarlais is a proud Metis man from Manitoba. His first step into the world of music came at 12-years-old when he discovered he had a knack for the drums. From there he spent most of his teenage years playing lead snare drum in renowned cadet pipe bands and strummed his guitar every chance he could.

As he entered his twenties, Desjarlais began marching to the beat of his own drum discovering he also had a voice that needed to be heard. A fan of classic country music, he fell naturally into that genre and won first place at the long running Westbrook Inn “Star Search” talent competition in 2009. He’s gone on to enter a handful of talent shows around Manitoba including the 2012 NCI Jam. Recently Desjarlais was chosen to be showcased as part of Festival du Voyageur 2020 and also headlined as part of the Manitoba Metis Federation's The Beat Goes On live concert series. Martin was one of five emerging artists chosen to participate in the Manitoba Arts Network/Indigenous Music partnership residency, the “Indigenous Emerging Artists Mentorship Intensive” in Gimli, Manitoba in October 2020. He was also honoured to be chosen for the second season of Indigenous Music’s Talking Stick Video Series where he was able to showcase his original song “What They Say About Me”.

Now in his thirties, Desjarlais is a proud father to his three sons, 6-year-old Sampson, two-year-old Marrick and new addition Miller. He’s also a husband, a truck driver for The City of Winnipeg and the drummer for other local Winnipeg bands. Desjarlais is now stepping into the world of writing his own music and will release his first EP in 2021.