Elisapie Isaac helps Salluit talent show draw a crowd

Salluit performers Calai Padlayat, left and Charlotte Angnatuk throat sing for a packed audience Oct. 30. Both girls won prizes for their performances. (PHOTO COURTESY OF EMMANUEL MORIN)

Elisapie Isaac, far right, performs Oct. 30 on stage at Salluit’s community centre alongside guitarist Manuel Gasse and local musicians Stella Sakiagak, Tanya Genest, Mary Argun and Betsy Koperqualuk. (PHOTO COURTESY OF EMMANUEL MORIN)

Salluit residents packed the local community centre Oct. 30 to see a talent show brimming with their best and brightest stars.

That included about 20 singers, musicians and traditional performers – including the community’s most famous artist, Elisapie Isaac, who accepted an invitation to take part.

“It was just incredible,” said Emmanuel Morin, the Salluit youth protection worker who helped organize the talent show.

“It really exceeded all of our expectations. The room was full, and people stayed right until midnight.”

The four-hour show was dominated by Salluit youth, who performed modern and traditional pieces on stage, with the encouragement of Elisapie Isaac, now a Montreal-based performer.

“I noticed Elisapie’s relationship with the youth — she really encouraged them on stage,” Morin said. “It really impressed me.”

Isaac, now an award-winning singer and songwriter, expecting her second child, appeared on the same stage where she developed her musical talent as a teen, playing alongside George Kakayuk of the Sugluk band.

Some of the strongest performances from the talent show came from the younger generation, one that hopes to achieve some of the same success Elisapie has enjoyed in recent years.

Salluit mayor Paulusie Saviadjuk helped select the show’s winners; local singer and drummer Betsy Koperqualuk took the night’s top award, followed by singer Vilisie Pinguartuq (who sang a Beatrice Deer song that night), throat singer Calai Padlayat, and performers Stella Sakiagak and Penina Tukkiapik.

One of the event’s prizes included a paid trip to Montreal to watch a Montreal Canadians hockey game from a private box suite.

But prizes were only a small part of the draw to the show, said Morin, who coordinated the show to help young people tap into their creativity and talents.

And he sees plenty of potential to grow the project.

“What’s for sure if that we’ll do this again in 2014,” he said. “We’ve got lots of ideas on the table and we’ll invest full-time in the programming.”

Morin hopes the next edition of the talent show can include Nunavimmiut from across the region — he plans to make it a weekend-long event and invite Elisapie back again, along with other Nunavik musicians.