'You get a whole lot more this year'

Performers from as far as Mexico and Mongolia will be in Iqaluit for this year's Alianait Arts Festival, which begins June 21, on National Aboriginal Day.

One act sure to turn heads will be Namgar, a group of four Mongolian musicians who perform in bright silk clothes and combine elegant Chinese strings and soaring vocals with buzzing guitars and Mongolian throat-singing.

They dress and sound like descendants of Ghengis Khan, which they may be – the group's lead singer traces her lineage to a tribe that served as the famous warlord's commanders during his attacks on Europe in the 13th century.

There will also be a klezmer band from Quebec playing traditional Yiddish music; folk music from Connecticut; and – back by popular demand – a whole lot of clowns.

Igloolik's rag-tag circus troupe, Artcirq, became festival favourites last year for their quirky performance that combines Inuit traditions – and a guy dressed in a polar bear skin – with circus stunts.

They're back this year with a new show, to be performed with their clowning comrades Les Sept Doigts de la Main from Montreal, and Cirko de Mente from Mexico.

Other home-grown talent includes Colin Adjun, a fiddler from Kugluktuk, and Pangnirtung‘s Agiraqtuq Ensemble, featuring accordionist Simeonie Keenainak.

And that's just the opening concert. The festival continues for 11 days and nights.

Just three years ago, Alianait started off as a modest summer festival with no major sponsors. It's grown a lot since then.

Add up all the grants and all the help the festival will receive this year from sponsors, which includes one of Nunavut's major airlines, Canadian North, and organizers say the cost reaches $500,000.

That means, even with sponsorship, the cost of tickets has gone up. Full-festival tickets are now $100, twice as much as last year.

"But you get a whole lot more this year," says organizer Heather Daley.

"This is a community festival, but we have to pay for it."

Like last year, some events will be free, such as storytelling by Enoki Kunuk, the Igloolik elder who survived four weeks on the land after his snowmobile broke down last summer.

There will also be three free concerts.

And, even if you're not in Iqaluit or can't afford a ticket to an event, all you should need to watch and listen to main stage acts is a computer and a fast internet connection. Igloolik Isuma Productions will be filming and streaming footage to www.isuma.tv.

Also expect better lighting, sound, and a lot more seating at events than past years. This year the festival will raise a purple and yellow big-top tent, capable of holding 800 people, in front of Nakasuk School.

That means no more tin-can acoustics inside the Arctic Winter Games arena, which, because of fire marshal rules, is limited to crowds of a few hundred people.

There's also a separate line-up just for kids this year, including children's performer Ishdafish from British Columbia, and Dan Butterworth, a master puppeteer from Rhode Island.

As well, Scott Kessel, a drummer with the folk band Daisy Mayhem from Connecticut, will put on a workshop on how he plays drums with nothing but a cardboard box, cat food and cookie tins and a suitcase.

Other than music, there will also be a film night, put on by the Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association. There will be carvings, prints and other artworks on display at the old residence, as the Nunavut Arts Festival overlaps with Alianait.

And there will also be an Inuktitut theatre performance, called Saqiyuq, put on by the Tuunnuniq Aqsarniit Theatre Group.

This year's theme, "string games," pays homage to Inuit culture, and symbolizes "the connectivity of cultures around the world," Daley said.

But for Alianait to succeed this year, organizers say they need a lot of volunteers. Last year they needed 100 helpers. This year, "we'll need at least double that," says organizer Emily Woods.

To help, call Lorraine at 979-6935.