Snare Lakes (Oct 11/04) - The last track on Nadine Neemeh's CD Masi was supposed to be the first.

But Neemeh found the vocalized prayers she had collected from places as far apart as Egypt and Nunavut so compelling, she wanted to include them all in the opening prayer song.

Nadine Neemeh holds a copy of her CD Masi, which she launched this month in Wekweti. She was also in Yellowknife last week for a launch party. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo

She made a simpler acoustic version and used that as the opener, saving the longer, lush sounding track for last.

Tanya Tagaq Gillis of Cambridge Bay opens the song with throatsinging. Also on the track is Alexis Arrowmaker of Wekweti's spoken prayer in Dogrib.

"The main message is that we are all one," said Neemeh.

Neemeh, who goes by the name Neema in her musical pursuits, was born in Montreal to Egyptian parents from Lebanon. But since graduating from university in 1996 she has been a globetrotter, the world her home base.

She has lived in Australia, India, Egypt and, between 1999 and 2001, in Wekweti, where she worked as the band manager.

"Two years seems short, but two years living in a small isolated community of 140 people is actually quite a bit of time. The people there are almost like another family to me," she said. Neemeh's first creative outlet was poetry. She has been writing verse since she was in Grade 5.

But she also calls herself a human jukebox because of her habit of singing aloud any tune that pops into her head.

Many of the tracks on Masi feature Neemeh speaking her verse in English and French.

Neemeh got a grant from the NWT Arts Council in 2002 to record a demo CD, and some of those tracks made it onto the full length album. Neemeh co-produced the album and paid for most of the production costs out of her own pocket.

For a year and a half, all of her spare time was poured into the project.

"It was a huge challenge," she said.

Part of the album was recorded at Spiritwalker studio in Yellowknife, where Leela Gilday added some harmonies and bassist Pat Braden pitched in.

The rest was done in Montreal, which was where Neemeh met up with Tagaq Gillis.

As well, some of the audio samples were recorded in Alexandria, Egypt, and in Wekweti, such as a solo sung by Wekweti's Tanya Quitte.

Neemeh launched the CD in the NWT community on International Music Day with an informal concert at the community hall.