Kashtin were a Canadian folk rock duo in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most commercially successful and famous musical groups in First Nations history. Career The band was formed in 1984 by Claude McKenzie and Florent Vollant, two Innu musicians from the Maliotenam reserve on the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The name Kashtin means "tornado" in the Innu-aimun language, but was also chosen as a pun on the English language phrase "cashed in", in response to friends who alleged that the band was selling out by pursuing attention and success beyond their own community. They began as a cover band, performing songs by Pink Floyd, U2, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and The Beatles in Innu communities, before beginning to write and perform original material. Their music followed a mainstream folk rock style, but incorporated traditional Innu makushan drums. Around the same time as the launch of the band, Vollant and McKenzie were involved in the creation of Innu Nikamu, a music festival celebrating indigenous music. In 1988 they were featured in a television documentary on the Innu people, increasing their public profile throughout Quebec. They were soon invited to Montreal by producer Guy Trépanier to record, and released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Although that album was recorded in their native Innu-aimun language, spoken by just 12,000 people in the world, the album quickly became a major hit in Quebec, Greenland and soon in English Canada as well, eventually being certified double platinum and winning the Prix Félix for Best Debut Album. The singles "E Uassiuian" and "Tshinanu" were popular hits for the band. In 1990, the band toured Europe and made commercial breakthroughs there, most notably becoming Top 10 stars in France after performing there as an opening act for Louis Chedid. In the same year, however, they were briefly a subject of controversy when radio stations CKAC and CFGL-FM briefly stopped playing their music during the Oka crisis, although the stations eventually backed off following criticism of the move. In 1991, the band embarked on their first full cross-Canada tour in the spring and summer, and released their second album, Innu, in the fall. That album spawned the band's biggest Canadian hit single, "Ishkuess", and included a cover of Willie Dunn's "Son of the Sun", the only song the band ever recorded in English. The album was a shortlisted Juno Award nominee for the