Rap revival in Inuktitut
Video promoting traditional language wins Symon Singoorie an iPod in QIA contest
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, March 9, 2015
AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD
Symon Singoorie of Grise Fiord hasn't rapped in public since a friend committed suicide. But his desire to revive the Inuit language may be a revival in his art as well.
Symon Singoorie, 20, used his rapping skills to win an iPod and promote the need to preserve Inuktitut for his daughter Malaiya's future. - photo courtesy of Symon Singoorie |
"We're Inuit and we're always speaking Inuktitut but all the kids are always speaking English now," said Singoorie. "They speak a lot of English up here. Kids are always on iPod playing MineCraft and stuff like that. It's kind of disturbing for our culture."
His concern went public when the 20-year-old entered a Qikiqtani Inuit Association video contest to win an iPod. The video is posted on the QIA's Facebook account.
"Our culture, we should not lose our culture because we are Inuit," he raps in Inuktitut over an instrumental track by Eminem. His message won one of two iPods available in the contest.
"I just made it up, freestyle," he said. "The beat, the title is Lose Yourself, and I made it into an Inuk song (about how) we shouldn't lose our language."
His choice to appropriate a popular song makes an interesting point about utilizing Western popular cultural artifacts – such as the movies, music and video games consumed by youth – and adapting them to preserve the Inuit language through mash-ups such as the one Singoorie performed in the video.
But can it save the Inuit language?
"That's a really good question," he said, offering his own solutions.
"Take away the technology and just be Inuk as we are. Do what we always used to do. Maybe that's how we can get our culture back."
Singoorie is taking his own actions as a stay-at-home father to Malaiya Leetia Singoorie, who is almost two.
"She is learning Inuktitut and starting to talk quite a bit finally," he said.
Singoorie stopped rapping after a friend committed suicide.
"We always used to jam, skip school and hit the music," he recalled. "I'd say he'd be proud. Yeah, he'd be proud."
His daughter and family keep him going in the wake of his loss.
"I try not to think about problems too much because it messes with people's heads and we shouldn't be doing that," he said.
With his iPod win, he's feeling good about rapping again.
"I could give it a try," he said. "Most of my relatives have seen it, but not most of my friends. I haven't really posted it in public yet."
He's tracking the progress of his iPod's arrival by Canada Post, and has an idea what he will put on it first.
"I'd say maybe instrumentals, like the beats I used" in the song, he said.
"Maybe I'll start writing. I want to start writing because I like that and I miss that feeling. Recording myself, writing and speaking my lines."
As Singoorie keeps an eye on his iPod's arrival, perhaps Nunavummiut should keep an eye on his music's arrival on their iPods one day.
