Toronto (Oct 02/06) - Somewhere in Toronto, Tanya Tagaq Gillis is standing downstairs at a passport office, thinking about food. But first, she has to get the word out about a new project.

"I'm leaving tomorrow (for) Montreal to tour with Kinnie Star," says the Cambridge Bay throat singer. "We're doing most of Canada. It's really exciting because her music is so incredible."

Cambridge Bay's Tanya Tagaq Gillis will be touring the country this fall with Vancouver singer/songwriter and emcee Kinnie Starr. - photo courtesy of Tanya Tagaq Gillis

This isn't Tagaq's first time across the country, but it will be her first with the Vancouver-based singer, songwriter and emcee, who was nominated for a Juno for Best New Artist in 2004.

The tour was arranged by their shared management and has proved to be a good fit, said Tagaq. "You spend a lot of time in the van, so you have to make sure you like someone."

Aside from the tour, life has been busy for the singer, with a series of projects and a new album on the go.

Last month, she was in Toronto for the opening of Igloolik Isuma's new film, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which features songs from her first album, Sinaa.

"It was really, really exiting," she said. "I didn't realize it was that much of a big deal." She also performed at the event, which she found nerve-racking. "It wasn't just me," she said.

"It's compelling," she said of the film, which opens nation-wide this week. Despite her role on the soundtrack, Gillis has only managed to watch half the movie. "I had to get back on the road," she said simply.

She said she will be playing with the Kronos Quartet in Vienna, and is working on material for her new album. Her producer, Michael Edwards (aka DJ Michael Red) has visited Cambridge Bay to record on the land, and the sounds are developing into songs. The content will reflect the hectic state of her life on the road and between her two homes in Spain and Cambridge Bay, she said. "It's just life."

With her busy schedule, she said a show in the North would be unlikely, at least in the near future.

"It's really hard, because people are asking you to play all over," she said. "To do something up North, I'd have to really push it and ask people to get me up there."

Her last chance was at the 25th-annual True North concert in Yellowknife last June, where she was unable to perform after losing her voice.

"I was really disappointed that I couldn't sing. I almost wanted to go up there and croak it out."

Another downside to all of this, she said, is leaving her two-year-old daughter, Naia, behind for the trip. Like most parents with toddlers, she finds it hard to take it easy during her "time off."

"When you have a two-year-old, you're never relaxed," she said with a laugh.

With that done, Tagaq has business to attend to on the streets of Toronto.

"I think I'm going to get a hot dog, she said.