Gospel, Arctic Soul and heavy metal on stage for Aqpik Jam’s 3rd night

A mix of soul, gospel and rock and roll defined the third night of Aqpik Jam Music Festival in Kuujjuaq Thursday evening.

Julia Lucassie and her band kicked off the show, covering songs such as Zombie by the Cranberries and an Inuktitut rendition of Elvis Presley’s Wooden Heart.

Up next was Ilagiit Band, a Christian group from Tasiujaq that sings in Inuktitut. The Katittavik theatre calmed with the performance, which contrasted the high-energy sets that followed.

Joshua Quamariaq and his band were a crowd favourite, drawing the room in from the very first note.

Quamariaq calls his genre “Arctic soul,” a blend of blues, rock and soul, with lyrics in both Inuktitut and English. Between his deep voice and a band that knew how to jam, the audience stayed engaged throughout their performance.

As the set ended, people in the audience shouted for an encore — and the band obliged.

”We’ll be back again one day,” Quamariaq told the audience afterward.

When Angava took the stage, lead singer Ben Watt trashed, headbanged and, as he put it, raged “against the machine.”

The crowd matched the band’s energy. Audience members raised devil horns in the air and headbanged as the guitars and drums thundered through the venue.

Richard Chamberland, an Angava fan, summed up the band’s appeal simply.

“They are awesome. They make loud music for loud people,” he said.

Closing out the night was Naneruaq, a Greenlandic classic rock band whose first album released in 1985.

“We are glad to be here,” said band member Ulrik Augustussen. “We are glad to be invited.”

The Greenlandic flag hung behind the band befitting the close ties between Inuit in Greenland and Nunavik.

Back in February, a delegation of Nunavik leaders travelled to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, to show solidarity with semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, amid the United States’s threat to overtake the territory.

The 30th edition of the four-day music festival was set to end Friday.