Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 21/99) - Ten years ago, Michel Goedart travelled from Europe -- specifically Belgium -- to Povungnituk. The Nunavik community on the shores of the Hudson Bay made such an impression that he has since returned eight times.

Most people might be satisfied with that, but not Goedart. Four years after his first visit, he began organizing concert tours through Belgium, France, sometimes Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany for various circumpolar performers.

The basic premise is that the European view of Canadian aboriginal cultures might just be a bit too narrow.

Musical tradition, Goedart believes, creates an open door onto the culture. He cites the fur trade as an example of a controversial matter -- the European viewpoint is very different from the traditional Northern cultural viewpoint and Goedart figures first-hand exchanges go a long way in eradicating old stereotypes and uninformed opinions.

The group, whose tour was titled La chaleur du Grand Nord (Arctic Warmth) performed 40 concerts throughout Belgium and France, 33 of which were in schools.

The throat singers of Povungnituk (Alacie Tulaugak, Mary Sivuarapik, Lucy Amarualik with Dora Uqaituk Qoperualuk, who also served as interpreter) and the Siberian singer shared stage time 50/50, explains Goedart, adding that within the concert the songs were explained, as well as aspects of Nunavik and Siberian lifestyle and culture.

Goedart hopes to invite Alaskan drummers next year and the Mackenzie Delta drummers the following year. He's also very interested in working with Pacific Coast aboriginal groups, such as the Haida and others, because he says the Europeans are even less informed about these cultures than they are of the Inuit.

But as Goedart explains, it's a matter of making the right contacts -- such as the Avatak Cultural Institute, who partnered up with him this year to help the Povungituk throat singers make it to Belgium -- establishing funding, and rousing enough interest to sell concerts. He says most people imagine such an endeavour to be far too difficult.

Goedart says he is always looking for new contacts and Canadian partnerships to organize new concerts. Nunavut, for example, interests him.

Goedart says he's been asked ten thousand times why he ever went to Povungnituk in the first place. He maintains it doesn't matter how he got there in the first place, but why he went back.

And why did he?

"I discovered something so different from my place, the relation between the people, the community way of life, solidarity."