Aqsarniit,
or "northern lights," is an established Inuit performing group
based in Ottawa. The core members of the group are Sylvia Ipirautaq
Cloutier and Phanuelie Palluq, who came together to learn about traditions
as well as to create new music and dances inspired by drum dancing and
throat singing.
Sylvia Ipirautaq Cloutier is a young Inuk/French Canadian
who was raised in Kuujjuaq, northern Quebec. In 1996, she took part
in the Chinook Winds dance program at the Banff Centre for the
Arts, which inspired her to co-create Performing Arts through Traditional
Entertainment for Inuit Youth, based in Iqaluit. In 1997, she created
her first dance production, Nunattinni: In Our Land.
Phanuelie Palluq was born in Igloolik on Baffin Island
and moved to Ottawa seven years ago. His grandfather, from whom he learned
his culture, music, and drum dancing, was a strong influence. Through
a mix of traditional and modern training, Palluq's own style and interpretation
of Inuit drum dancing have evolved. In 1998, he attended the Chinook
Winds dance program at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
In drum dancing, one holds a large round flat drum, swaying
the body while striking the rim on each side. Traditionally, eastern
Arctic Inuit drums were made of driftwood and caribou hide with thick
seal or walrus skin around the handle. An ajaaja song is the
music that accompanies a drum dance, based on an individual's expression
of personal experience. Songs can be about what one saw or experienced
out on the land, starvation, sadness, happiness, celebration, the weather,
and the seasons. They can be about relationships with one's self, family
members, or something to warn others about. In some regions, two men
would resolve disputes through a drum dance challenge.
Throat singing is practiced among women, in homes, the
igloo, and the qamak (summer house made of skins) where mothers sang
to their children, little girls sang to their puppies, and women attracted
geese. Women also sang for entertainment in friendly competition, imitating
sounds of animals such as geese, seagulls, dog teams, walrus, and other
sounds like the saw, qamutik (sled) runners, the wind, boiling
seal meat, and small waves.
