Inuit throat singers gathering planned

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Throat singers from across Nunavut and Northern Quebec will come together this fall for a four-day gathering to help promote and preserve their art.

Kattajjatiit Katimanirjuangat, or Inuit Throatsingers Gathering, will be held in Puvirnituq, in the Nunavik region of Quebec, from Sept. 10 to 14.

More than 60 throat singers are expected to take part in the event, the first ever gathering of its kind. The gathering will be hosted by the Avataq Cultural Institute, which works to promote and protect Inuit language and culture in northern Quebec.

The gathering is being organized to give throat singers a chance to share their talents, knowledge and ideas with each other, and to work towards preserving their art for future generations. One of main aims of the gathering is to bring Elders and youth together, explained Taqralik Partridge, project co-ordinator with the Avataq Cultural Institute.

"Since the '60s, throat singing has become very popular, and nowadays, more and more young people are performing it and getting more interested in their culture in general, but in performing arts and culture specifically," Partridge said.

"There's a lot of people who are travelling abroad, and people who are kind of incorporating throat singing into different types of music. And a lot of times Elders feel that maybe young people aren't really learning the true meaning behind throat singing, because it's very important to Elders as part of Inuit heritage, and it has a very long history, and it was used for very specific things. And nowadays, it's probably used for different things. And so Elders are concerned that maybe young people need to learn more about the history of throat singing."

The gathering will provide a link between youth wanting to learn about throat singing and the Elders who can teach them.

"A lot of times, young people are interested in learning throat singing and learning about it, but they don't have access to Elders in their communities who do know how to throat sing. Because it's really concentrated in some communities, like the one that we're holding it in, it's very concentrated as far as most of the women Elders know how to do this, or many of them do. Whereas in other communities, there isn't anybody who's practising it anymore. And a lot of young people would like to bring it back to the community. So, the best way for them to do that is to have access to the Elders who still know how to perform," Partridge said.

"We've tried to concentrate on inviting Elders and youth from as many communities as possible. We're really happy to be having a lot of Elders from Nunavut as well as Nunavik coming. We have Elders from Baker Lake-there are four of them who actually volunteered to come-and then we have others from all over Baffin Island."

While most of the participants that have been invited to take part in the gathering have been Elders and professional throat singers, a formal invitation isn't required for those wanting to attend.

"We're leaving it open to people who want to come and observe, and they won't be excluded completely from participation," Partridge said.

During the gathering, participants will also be working to form a throat singers' association. Such an association would give professional throat singers a network for sharing knowledge, advice and information, while also helping to protect the cultural integrity of the art.

For more information about the Inuit Throatsingers Gathering, call Taqralik Partridge at 1-800-361-5029, ext. 32, or e-mail her at Inukgirl@avataq.qc.ca.