Workshops fill air with song
Nunavut Hitmakerz fills community halls in Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Monday, August 29, 2016
NUNAVUT
The tundra was alive with the sound of music this month as Nunavut Hitmakerz visited three communities.
Thor Simonsen and Kelly Fraser take what could be the biggest selfie in Clyde River history during the closing ceremonies of Nunavut Hitmakerz in that community. - photo courtesy of Kitra Cahana |
"Nunavut Hitmakerz is an initiative where we travel around to different Nunavut communities teaching music production and songwriting skills as well as media skills to youths and basically everybody in the community," said Thor Simonsen, one of the organizers of the program.
Originally from Iqaluit, he's a full-time music producer and created the program with Kelly Fraser, a singer from Sanikiluaq.
They say the goal of the program is to leave the communities with the skills needed to continue to produce their own music - which includes leaving behind a mobile studio consisting of a laptop, microphone, headphones and other gear.
In its first year, Nunavut Hitmakerz held sessions in Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq during August. Simonsen says they'd love to see it offered across the territory in the future.
Sponsored by the Government of Nunavut Culture and Heritage department and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the program wraps up with writing a song in the communities dialect together, on the spot.
"It's really amazing because everyone is involved, everyone in the community, from elders to adults to teens to little kids," said Kelly Fraser.
"We bring a drum, little kids are throatsinging and drum dancing and singing in their language. The most important thing is that I'm writing in their dialect."
 | Music hard to classify | 
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They might be bringing the technology, but both agree the talent is already there.
Simonsen says they've had everything from traditional drummers and throatsingers to rappers attend the workshops.
"Just a lot of different types of music that want to come in and work," he said.
Fraser says the mixing of tradition with modern techniques makes the music hard to classify.
"I don't know what genre you would call it but in Inuktitut it's called pisiq. I often talk about Inuit being very talented and making pisiq. So it feels like we're making traditional songs but we use a guitar.
"So it's hard to say what genre it is because we just do how we feel, make a song with what chords we feel like should be there. It's really a whole community effort," she said.
The program wraps up with a community concert, where participants perform in front of an audience.
"We've had an absolutely amazing reception here. I've heard people say that they've never seen turnouts this big," said Simonsen. "For the workshops we've had consistently I think around 60 or 70 attendees, people who are signed up, and for the concerts I think we've had between 300 and 500 people at each show."
Some of the participants will be included on the duo's upcoming album.
"We met an amazing beatboxer who we will put on our album because he is just so talented. He doesn't miss a beat. He goes exactly 100 bpm (beats per minute) and that's very rare," said Fraser.
"He's truly amazing. He should be in New York!"
But, she says, making music for people in the south isn't really the point.
"We don't know who is going to be listening, but whoever listens will be very happy, because it's just happy music we're making. We're writing all about community pride, a lot of the time. And about our struggles," she said. "What is important is that Inuit are making music in their language, full of pride."
That's especially important, she says, for youth in small communities.
"It's very important because there's so (many) artists in Nunavut that don't have a voice, there's so many kids that don't feel like they can succeed.
"It's very important to show them that it is possible, and that we can do it together. It's important for me as a singer, as someone they look up, to talk with them as friends and to say, 'Hey, let's write a song, you're so talented'," she said. "We've been having an amazing time, people are so talented. We're making breakthroughs. We're finding artists and we're giving them tools."
