Nunavut duo wins at Pan-Arctic Vision

A duo from Nunavut earned one of three honours at the fourth-annual Pan-Arctic Vision competition in Denmark on Oct. 2.

Christine Piunguałaq Tootoo of Rankin Inlet and Tooma Laisa of Iqaluit shared the award for “most feeling of community and togetherness.”

The event, billed as the Arctic’s answer to the Eurovision Song Contest, took place at the Nordic House in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.

“I love experiencing new cultures and languages,” Tootoo said in a preprepared video broadcast before her performance alongside Laisa. “Travelling gives me a zest for life.”

Travel was the theme of their traditional drum song, Kiviuq.

Kiviuq is the name of a legendary Inuk who travelled across “the imaginary borders” of Inuit Nunangat, Tootoo said as she introduced the song from the stage.

Laisa softly drummed and hummed beside Tootoo, who recorded and looped Laisa’s voice. Then they sang their rendition of the legend.

When the performance ended, the audience broke the silence with a roar of applause.

Icelandic rock band Falinn gjóður won “most revolutionary song” and Nuunu, a Greenlandic singer-songwriter who goes by one name, won “most Arctic song.”

The 400-member audience cast votes, which were combined with online votes logged in realtime on the organization’s website, to pick the winners. Voters also selected Iceland as next year’s host.

All of the performers packed the stage and chanted, “This is Arctic land — we will always stand” and “the Arctic is not for sale” during the finale. Several artists also fired ticker-tape cannons into the air.