Rankin Inlet (Oct 20/04) - Hundreds of music lovers jammed into the Rankin Inlet community centre this past week.

The talent show attracted 28 performers who treated the crowd to more than four hours of great songs and music.

The event was held to raise funds to host a music festival in Rankin Inlet.

Music festival committee member Debbie Pilakapsi said the new committee was quite pleased with the response it received from both the performers and the public.

"This was our first talent show and it turned out really well, so, of course, the committee's happy about that," said Pilakapsi.

"We want to hold the music festival sometime in the coming year -- that's our target -- but we haven't set an exact date yet."

Nunavut-wide event

Pilakapsi said the committee would like to model the Rankin Inlet Music Festival along the same lines as the annual Arviat Music Festival, which often has musicians from across Nunavut and parts of Quebec join Arviat performers on stage.

She said, for now, the committee is focused on continuing its fundraising efforts to make the festival a reality.

"We're thinking of having music night on evenings where there's no teen dances.

"We'd like to mix it up between straight talent shows and karaoke nights, but we're still discussing the particulars.

"We have a lot of talented people in Rankin who love to get up and perform for the community."

Ambrose Karlik is one such performer.

Karlik started playing guitar almost 10 years ago and loves to accompany other performers as well as sing himself.

"I really enjoy playing rhythm guitar for the other singers, and I enjoy performing in front of big crowds because it can be pretty exciting," said Karlik.

"I was kind of nervous the first few times I went on stage, but I got used to it pretty quick.

"Whether it's a talent show or just with the band at a square dance, I enjoy playing music and seeing people in the community having a good time."