Alianait unveils big line-up, big talent for Iqaluit this June

If you’re planning what to do in Iqaluit this June, make room on your calendar for the Alianait Arts Festival.

Alianait has just unveiled the list of performers who will play Iqaluit from June 26 to July 1 this year, an assemblage of talent they describe as “a brilliant mix of world-class entertainment.”

This year’s them is “Unikkausivut: Our Stories.”

“The theme this year is in honor of all the rich stories and songs that come from Nunavut, and in honor of those who carry them. We look forward to inviting the world to also share their stories with us through song, dance and circus,” said Franco Buscemi, Alianait’s chair, in a press release April 14.

The line up includes the Greenland pop group Nanook, well known for the single “Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut,” released in 2011.

David Myles, the well-known pop crooner from Nova Scotia will make a return visit to Iqaluit.

And Matuto, a combo based in New York City whose music combines American bluegrass and Afro-Brazilian music will make their first appearance in Iqaluit.

Bobs and LoLo, known from Treehouse TV, will perform for children, and Alianait will put on its first Young Circumpolar Artists Collaboration.

That event will feature Henrik Poulsen of Greenland; the Qatagiit group from Quaqtaq; Agaaqtoq from Arviat; Gustin Adjun, Dettrick Hala and Scott Tologanak of Kugluktuk; Shauna Seeteenak of Baker Lake and Daniel Kolola of Iqaluit.

Artcirq will do two circus cabaret performances, with guest acrobats Genevieve Drolet and Patrick Leonard.

Other performers include the acoustic roots trio The Sweet Lowdown from Victoria, Toronto’s Slocan Ramblers, Siiva and Tukummeq of Greenland, Yellowknife blues band Priscilla’s Revenge and alt-rock band Willie Stratton and The Boarding Party from Halifax.

Fiddler Colin Adjun of Kugluktuk will also play as well as Nunavut’s well-known gospel folk singer Etulu Aningmiuq.