Next month brings pre-Alianait festival shows to Iqaluit

Iqaluit’s Alianait music festival plans to celebrate the start of summer with three concerts.

The concerts kicks off with a free event on National Aboriginal Day, June 21. The line-up includes the NAIP Kids Team, the most popular folk group in Greenland, along with Iqaluit storyteller Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, singer-guitarist Terrie Kusugak and the Kulavak throat singers, Kathleen Merritt and Nancy Ilisapi Mike.

On June 22, a “Festival Frenzy” show features singer William Tagoona from Kuujjuaq, the Métis Fiddler Quartet – four siblings from Toronto who perform traditional Canadian Métis and native fiddling, and throat singer, drum dancer and singer/songwriter Sylvia Cloutier.

A June 23 “School’s Out” concert and teen dance, emceed by Anguti Johnson and Vinnie Karetak, will feature Baker Lake’s cousins Nelson Tagoona and Shauna Seeteenak, Juno nominees, Flying Down Thunder and Rise Ashen, the Northwest Territories’ hip hop artist Godson, and the Hip Hop Spot group.

All three concerts will take place at Nakasuk School, starting at 7 p.m.

You can buy tickets for the “Festival Frenzy” and “School’s Out” concerts at Arctic Ventures.

For more information about the concerts, go to the Alianait website.