Alianait Arts Festival to explore traditional Inuit songs
Pisiit is this year’s festival theme
Drum dancer Shelton Nipisar of Arviat is part of the Pisiit Project, in which artists from across Inuit Nunaat will explore traditional songs throughout the Alianait Arts Festival in Iqaluit. The group will share their collaboration with a performance during the festival finale in the big top tent at 7 p.m. on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Shelton Nipisar)
Pisiit, the Inuktitut term for traditional Inuit songs, is the theme of this year’s four-day Alianait Arts Festival, which kicked off Thursday in Iqaluit.
“Pisiit are based around drums used in dancing, music and storytelling,” said drum dancer Shelton Nipisar of Arviat, during an interview at Aqsarniit Hotel on Friday.
Nipisar is in Iqaluit to participate in the Pisiit Project, in which Indigenous artists from Canada, Greenland, New Zealand and Finland will learn about and perform traditional Inuit songs at the festival.
Nipisar gave the group a lesson Friday afternoon.
A longtime researcher of pisiit who learned to love the art form from his late aunts Mary Anowtalik and Eva Mukyungnik, he has learned about other regional variations. He mastered a few as a student at Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa earlier this decade.
There are Pisiit about love, longing, harvesting, and games — such as juggling, string games and hide-and-seek
Songs where two performers duel were popular prior to colonization but have since fallen out of practice, Nipisar said.
There is a whole language of meaning in the songs. For instance, songs composed on the ocean during a harvest are called samaijaa. There are many different words for songs composed on land, depending on the time, place and context of their composition.
Pisiit often feature narrative verses that recount personal experiences, good or bad.
The songs can be healing for their composer, allowing them to stow their sad thoughts in the song so they can sleep at night, he said.
Meanwhile, other songs are humorous, he added.
The group will share their collaboration with a performance during the festival finale on the Tupiq stage at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Other events throughout the weekend include a performance by Nunavik recording artist Beatrice Deer and Igloolik singer-songwriter Terry Uryak at Aqsarniit Lounge at 10:30 p.m. on Friday. and the Alianait Craft Fair outside the big top tent, in front of Nakasuk School, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
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