Nunavik songstress shares inspiration with youth

Beatrice Deer on stage at Vancouver’s Aboriginal pavilion with throat singers Celina Kalluk and Becki Qilavvaq. (COURTESY SARA BORCK PHOTOGRAPHY)

KANGIQSUJUAQ — Beatrice Deer had a revelation when she spoke to an assembly at Quaqtaq’s Isummasaqvik School last month.

The singer-songwriter was talking to young students in her hometown about her success as a musician.

Deer told them they are capable of anything they put their minds to and that, yes, dreams do come true.

“The teacher asked how I came about singing,” Deer said. “And it made me realize that I was exactly their age when I decided I wanted to become a singer.”

Back in those days, Deer, now 27, used to sing along to the musical Grease in front of an imaginary audience she hoped would become real one day.

“It eventually came true,” she said. “Singing and performing isn’t my full-time job, but it’s who I am.

“And it’s only getting better.”

That’s what Deer told the students in the classroom that day, hoping that she planted the right seeds in tomorrow’s nurses, hockey players and seamstresses.

Deer was in Quaqtaq for the opening of this year’s Ivakkak dog sled race, invited to sing at the event’s opening ceremonies.

For her hometown crowd, it was the first chance to hear Deer perform tracks from her new self-titled album, Beatrice Deer.

Released earlier this year, Deer’s second album is easy on the ears; a mellow blend of folk, pop and hints of bluegrass in English and Inuttitut.

It’s the kind of album you can imagine swaying along to on a cool August evening at the Aqpik Jam.

But when asked to describe her own sound, Deer pauses.

“I don’t really think I sound like anyone,” she said finally. “I can’t really compare myself to other musicians. I sound like me.”

“We’re really proud of it this album,” she adds. “It turned out really well.”

“We” is Deer and her creative partner and husband Charles Keelan, originally from Kangiqsualujjuaq, who together started writing the songs for this album in 2007.

When she finally got funding, Deer recorded the album at a home studio in Montreal, where she is now based.

For fans of 2005’s “Just Bea,” the new album is nothing like the first one, she said.

“The two albums are completely different,” Deer said. “I find our music has matured a lot in terms of composition and lyrics. When I write a song, it’s what I’m going through, what I’m feeling at the time.”

Deer, who studied graphic design in Montreal, did the album’s jacket cover.

Three of the eight tracks on the latest album are in Inuttitut; one of them, “Ilaapik,” was co-written by her cousin George Okpik.

“I try to make it as poetic as possible in Inuttitut,” Deer said. “But it’s hard because it’s such a direct language, there aren’t metaphors.”

During her phone interview with Nunatsiaq News, Deer’s voice sounds strained, tired. She managed to catch a nasty cold before her performance.

“I was so excited to come home and perform,” she said. “I sang, but my voice was kind of raspy.”

It’s unlikely her audience even noticed, happy only to have their musical daughter back home.

Deer performed for the first time when she was 15, at a Quaqtaq fundraiser for the local hockey team.

Her fan base has grown considerably over the past 10 years.

Deer played earlier this year at the Northern Lights trade show in Montreal, before heading west to perform at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

She and her husband performed six shows between the Quebec and aboriginal pavilions.

“It was amazing,” Deer said. “We joined 30 other Inuit from across Canada and did a set of all of our music, intertwined. It was really nice.”

The show was well received by its audience – it earned the first standing ovation in the pavilion, Deer said.

Once back in Montreal, Deer and Keelan will be on the lookout for a band, one that can play back up to both of their acts. Keelan is currently recording his own material.

Fans can catch Deer performing at the upcoming International Cultural Festival, which places later this month in Kuujjuaraapik.

And, as the summer approaches, Nunavimmiut will likely have the chance to hear Deer again at summer festivals in Puvirnituq and Kangirsuk, as well as another festival in Inuvik, NWT.

“I put my music on hold for a few years,” Deer said, “but I’m happy to get back to it.”

Beatrice Deer’s self-titled album is available on iTunes and through her many friends who help sell copies throughout the region. You can listen to her at www.myspace.com/beatricedeerband.