Nitjautik Music Festival returns to Tasiujaq for 5th year

Tasiujaq is getting ready for the fifth edition of the Nitjautik Music Festival after logistical challenges forced the event’s cancellation last year.

Crew members Liam Callaghan (top) and Ken Fraser set up the stage Thursday ahead of the fifth annual Nitjautik Music Festival in Tasiujaq. (Photo by Dominique Gené)

The festival runs Friday and Saturday at the community’s multi-use centre and will feature performers from across Nunavik and beyond.

But before the music starts, much of the work happens behind the scenes.

Peter Nassak, one of the featured performers, arrived from Kuujjuaq Wednesday to help setup.

“When I get the chance, I help out wherever I can,” he said.

Nassak, 37, has been playing music since he was a teenager and learned much of the technical side of live performance on the job.

For him, music became more than a creative pursuit.

“I wasn’t very good at regulating my emotions as a teenager,” he said. “But with music, I think it was really an escape from everything for me and that really helped.”

Nassak sings in Inuktitut and English. His music draws primarily from blues and rock. He also sees a connection between music and nature.

“If you go out into nature and you sit still, it might sound like there is nothing. But if you really listen, there are sounds everywhere.”

For his second time performing at the festival, Nassak hopes to bring people together.

“To see people smile and to connect with them, is for me the most rewarding thing when I perform,” he said.

Also among the setup crew was Liam Callaghan, who has been involved with the festival since the start, when it was a much smaller outdoor event.

“We set it up outside, with beautiful hills as a background,” Callaghan said of the inaugural festival.

In those early days, the festival had fewer resources and basic equipment.

“It was a struggle, but it was fun,” he said.

Now, the festival has grown into a two-day event. Putting it together in a remote community, though, still presents challenges.

Equipment has to arrive by boat and plane, with some supplies borrowed from nearby communities. Callaghan came to Tasiujaq in July to assess what was available and what still needed to be brought in.

At the same time, he said, the community’s willingness to pitch in makes the work easier.

“If you have to put up the curtain, say, someone will volunteer and build a frame for the curtain, and everyone just wants to help out,” he said.

Callaghan also brought in Ken Fraser, a veteran of northern festivals who has worked with Aqpik Jam in Kuujjuaq since 1996. He also worked with Eastern Arctic Summer Festival in Kuujjuarapik in 1991.

Despite his decades of experience, Fraser said he continues to learn from younger technicians.

“These young guys now are teaching me more than I could ever,” he said.

This year’s lineup includes the Trade Offs, Yaa, Kathy Snowball and others.