Alianait to host Aboriginal Day concert in Iqaluit

Iqalungmiut can check out a free show at Nakasuk school gym June 21, featuring, among other performers, Arviat singer-songwriter Calvin Pameolik. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ALIANAIT)

Gustin Adjun will play Alianait’s National Aboriginal Day concert in Iqaluit June 21. The Kugluktuk fiddler just released his first album, called Gusting Winds. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ALIANAIT)

If you’re in Iqaluit and you don’t already have plans for June 21, the Alianait music festival has you covered.

Alianait is hosting a free concert to celebrate this year’s National Aboriginal Day, featuring talent from across the territory.

The weeknight show will be hosted at Nakasuk school gym, starting at 7:00 p.m.

The June 21 line-up features:

• Singer-songwriter Calvin Pameolik, from Arviat, who performs a mixture of English and Inuktitut-language tunes;

• Daniel Kolola Band from Iqaluit;

• Fiddler Gustin Adjun from Kugluktuk, just in time for the release of his first album “Gusting Winds;”

• Jordin Muckpa, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Arctic Bay, who just recorded his first album, all in Inuktitut;

• Looee Arreak, originally from Pangnirtung but now a regular performer at Iqaluit’s Christian Fellowship Church, and;

• the Inuksuk Drum Dancers, who perform traditional Inuit music, throat-singing and drum dancing under the direction of Dr. Mary Piercey-Lewis.

National Aboriginal Day is celebrated across the country June 21 in recognition of the “unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding contributions” of First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Canada.

The day came to be after a number of calls for the creation of a national holiday to celebrate the country’s Indigenous people, including a recommendation made by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples to designate a National First Peoples Day.

National Aboriginal Day was announced in 1996 by then-Governor General Roméo LeBlanc.