Maria Canton
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Nov 01/99) - Although he isn't a Backstreet Boy yet, Iqaluit's Aaron Fraser says he's already been signing autographs for his part in the locally produced CD Tusakkit Surusiit\Hear the Children.

And although he's only four years old, Fraser says he thinks he would like to make another CD someday.

"Everyone clapped when they heard (the CD) and said nice job," he said. "I'm going to be a Backstreet Boy."

As part of a growing concern about the erosion of the Inuktitut language, educators from the Nunavut Teachers Education Program (NTEP), the Inuit Studies Program and Iqaluit's day cares decided to produce a CD of selected, age-appropriate songs.

The day cares were already making sure the more than 100 children were receiving one-hour Inuktitut sessions twice a week when the idea to produce the CD came up.

"Making the CD is something we decided to do about halfway through the Inuktitut language program," said Vicki MacKenzie, director of Aakuluk day care.

"Kids seem to grasp the language easiest through songs. We looked at how much money we had left and decided to go ahead with it."

After contacting David Boileau, a local engineer with a recording studio, educators from each of Iqaluit's five day cares picked children to participate.

"We had two big nights and a third night when we brought all of the kids to the studio and recorded tracks of them freely singing," said MacKenzie.

"The second time we tried for good quality and the third was solos and story reading."

Mackenzie says most of the 13 tracks used, two of which are stories re-told by local elders, were taken from the first recording session, when the kids sounded the most spirited.

"It was a little challenging because children move a lot and they were stomping and clapping in front of the microphones," said MacKenzie.

"But they sounded the most upbeat and spirited during the first recording."

Some 500 copies of the CD were made and have been split equally among the day cares. Each centre plans to sell the CDs as a mini fund-raiser.