William C. is an Indigenous artist living and creating in the greater Quebec City area in Quebec, Canada. As a member of the Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation in Manitoba on his mother’s side and a Québecois father from Drummondville QC, he has been travelling in two worlds all of his life. A percussionist and drummer, he holds a bacholar of the Arts in Music from the University of Ottawa. Although his esthetics are based on the 90’s pop/funk movement, he still manages to include an updated appeal with modern Indigenous issues. A multi-faceted performer, William C. brings attention to the ongoing struggle of Indigenous communities because for him art is not simply ornamental, it is an instrument of change; A catalyst for the way Indigenous people are seen, portrayed, and bringing attention to their mistreatment. He uses music as a way to demonstrate perspectives of the past and present, as well as hope for the future. His first single as an independent artist, The Cheque is in The Mail (2019) was on the Indigenous Music Countdown for 14 weeks, peaking at #7. He followed that up with Look Good in Feathers in 2020 which are both available in all digital streaming platforms. A full album is in the works to be released in 2025.
William C. Wikcemna Yamni Sam Wanzi presents an all-Indigenous review of the best urban styled Indigenous music; rap, pop, dance, electro, and traditional. A video set that is mixed with snippets of cultural taglines that are windows into Indigenous realities. His set includes videos from Indigenous artists conveying their culture through their video works – its what they know and never what you expect. It’s not simply a playlist but an informed, curated sequence of multi-media works setting a mid-tempo flow as the key mood. Immersive in the vision of Indigenous artists presenting themselves through the lens of their music. Singing the heroes of Indigenous music to wider audiences is important to William C. as he is a passionate advocate for Indigenous music and investing in Indigenous communities.
William C. is the artist persona of Noel Habel, who earned a BA in Music from the University of Ottawa and played in several bands as a drummer/percussionist in the Ottawa area before starting a family and settling down. He worked with the all-Indigenous alternative ska, punk band Seventh Fire in the early to mid-nineties and more recently with Ottawa based Indigenous pop rock band Weaselhead from 2005-2014. His artistic career was put on hiatus for 12 years while he worked as a public servant travelling to many communities and events to help Indigenous artists in the pursuit of their project and career goals. Through William C., Noel wears an uncle persona to tells stories of arguments won and lost, of early bedtimes, bitter victories and what happens when we discover purpose in this life given. Using dry, sarcastic humor for levity, he is telling a story of grief for communal loss, with the hope to create an understanding that will bring cultures closer together.
More recently, Noel moved to Quebec City in July of 2018 to experience more personal and professional challenges. In addition to crafting and releasing his first set of original songs, he also narrated a governor general award winning book Mamaskatch by author Darryl McLoed. He also helped the Franco-Ontarian pop group LGS promote their #1 single On Perds La Tête throughout Ontario and Quebec for live presentations on several radio station. In the summer of 2019 he travelled to Switzerland with Indigenous troupe Kwaweyih to present his first 2 hour DJ set at the Paleo music festival. He has played a succession of DJ gigs ever since. He worked as a consultant for the literary committee of Canada FBM2021-22 which has the responsibility of the organizing the Canadian representation as the guest of honor at the Frankfort Book fair in 2021-22. He is currently finishing up his first self-produced record titled Residuary Bequest and expects to release it in mid 2025.