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Play that funky music
Driving music options limited in North by Jeff Colbourne
NNSL (Feb 09/98) - There is no better way to start the morning than by tuning in an energetic disc jockey cracking jokes and playing upbeat tunes on the radio.
Unfortunately, as soon as most of us go out the door, step in our vehicles, the music we pick up through our television cable at home stops and the new-oriented reality of Canada's public broadcaster kicks in.
Unless, of course, you have a car tape deck or CD player.
But, according to some Northerners, car stereos are as rare up here as BMWs in Broughton Island.
"I don't know if there's anyone here with a cassette player in their vehicle," said Dan Leamon, Resolute Bay's senior administrative officer.
"(But) the government sent a vehicle up here with air conditioning," he added.
A majority of vehicles in the communities are owned by the GNWT or the municipality. Often they come without comfort creatures like a car stereo.
Leamon said there's no need to have a cassette player simply because there's not much in the way of extended sessions behind the wheel to be done.
"There's only 10 miles of road. There's not very far you can go," he said.
Pond Inlet's Jake Anaviapik enjoys listening to music, particularly Rita McNeil, his favorite singer.
But Anaviapik has to leave his music at home because his Jeep Cherokee only has a radio spitting out news from CBC Iqaluit.
Gjoa Haven's Enuk Pauloosie's musical options in his 1994 Ford Explorer are a little better.
His cassette player allows him endless hours of music, if he needs it.
When cruising around, Pauloosie, who admits he has music in his blood -- he plays the guitar and fiddle at square dances -- listens to all kinds of artists, including the Mavericks and Blue Rodeo.
"I just listen to it when I'm going to work," Pauloosie said. "You really can't go around anywhere in wintertime."
Rankin Inlet taxi driver Thomas Angoshadluk would be at a loss without his music, too.
The part-time disc jockey cranks out the tunes while driving passengers to their destinations in town.
"It's just music, man. I just love music for some reason." |