Inuit throat singing

Inuit women

Inuit throat singing or katajjaq is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit. (A stylistic precursor called Rekuhkara was formerly practiced by the Ainu in Hokkaidō, Japan, but its practice has since substantially diminished.) Unlike the throat singers in other regions of the world, particularly Tibet, Mongolia and Tuva, the Inuit performers are usually women who sing only duets in a kind of entertaining contest to see who can outlast the other. However, at least one notable performer, Tanya Tagaq, performs throat singing as a solo artist and as a collaborator with non-throat singing musicians such as Icelandic pop music star Björk. The musical duo Tudjaat performed a mixture of traditional throat singing and pop music.

New World terms

The name for throat singing in Canada varies with the geography:

• Iirngaaq^[1] – some Nunavut communities
• Piqqusiraarniq^[1] or Pirkusirtuk^[2] – Igloolik and Baffin Island
• Qiarvaaqtuq^[1] – Arviat
• Katajjaq^[1] or Katadjak^[2] – Nunavik and South Baffin
• Nipaquhiit^[2] – some Nunavut communities

History

Originally, katajjaq was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while men were away on hunting trips, and it was a regarded more as a type of vocal or breathing game in the Inuit culture rather than a form of music.^[3]

Performance

Two women face each other usually in a standing position and holding each other's arms. Sometimes they will do some kind of dance movements while singing (e.g., balancing from right to left). One singer leads by setting a short rhythmic pattern, which she repeats leaving brief silent intervals between each repetition. The other singer fills in the gap with another rhythmic pattern. The sounds used include voiced sounds as well as unvoiced ones, both through inhalation or exhalation.^[4] The first to run out of breath or be unable to maintain the pace of the other singer will start to laugh or simply stop and will thus be eliminated from the game. It generally lasts between one and three minutes. The winner is the singer who beats the largest number of people.^[5]

At one time, the lips of the two women almost touched, so that one singer used the mouth cavity of the other as a resonator, but this is less common in present day. Often, the singing is accompanied by a shuffling in rhythm from one foot to the other. The sounds may be actual words or nonsense syllables or created during exhalation.

"The old woman who teaches the children [throat singing songs] corrects sloppy intonation of contours, poorly meshed phase displacements, and vague rhythms exactly like a Western vocal coach."^[6][7]

Inuit throat singing in popular culture

• John Metcalf's 1990 opera Tornrak features throat singing by the Inuit characters.
• A scene of Inuit throat singing appears in the 1974 Timothy Bottoms film The White Dawn.
• The 2003 film The Snow Walker contains a scene of Inuit throat singing.
• The 2001 film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) has a scene with Inuit throat singing.
• The 2007 film, Wristcutters: A Love Story, features a "mute" character named Nanuk who practices this style of throat singing.
• A rather imaginative variation on throat singing is featured in the 2007 Dan Simmons novel, The Terror.
• In a scene of the The Simpsons Movie (2007), Homer Simpson is shown throat singing with an Inuit woman in order to have an epiphany.
• Rick Mercer, in an episode of his self-hosted show Rick Mercer Report, attempted to throat sing with an Inuit woman when he visited the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife.
• An August 2008 an AT&T radio commercial references kadajjat/throat singing in reference to the speaker's roommate.
• In 2005, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra recorded The Four Seasons Mosaic^[8] CD and DVD documentary. A reinvention of Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Mychael Danna featuring Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; Jeanne Lamon, violin; Aruna Narayan, sarangi; Wen Zhao, pipa and throat singers Aqsarniit (Sylvia Cloutier and June Shappa).
• The electropop band Row of Cookies incorporated a sample of Inuit throat singing in their version of the song New Girl Now by Honeymoon Suite.
• The British ITV documentary Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World features Billy Connolly in the Canadian Arctic. In the second episode, he visits a pair of women demonstrating the finer points of throat singing.^[9]
• The 2012 CBC TV drama series Arctic Air features a theme song written by Tim McCauley and performed by Tanya Tagaq incorporating elements of traditional Inuit throat singing over a modern dance beat.^[10]
• A task in the seventh leg of the first season of The Amazing Race Canada required teams to listen to a traditional Inuit throat singing performance.

Recognition

In 2014, Nunavik throat singing (katajjaniq) became the first cultural item to be given the intangible cultural heritage designation by the government of the province of Quebec, Canada.

See also

• Tuvan throat singing

References

External links

• UBU.com, Canada Inuit Games and Songs, UbuWeb Ethnopoetics
• Video of Canadian Inuit throat singers