Reggae, rock and throat singing thrills crowd at Alianait concert

Backstage at Alianait Arts Festival’s opening night concert Friday in Iqaluit, some visiting performers were already plotting their return trip to the city.

Paaliit Mølgaard, lead vocalist with Sauwestari, a reggae band from Nuuk, Greenland, brings the crowd to its feet Friday night. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“I need to come back,” said Byron Nicholai, a rapper and hand drummer from Toksook Bay, Alaska, after stepping off stage from his high-energy set. “The fusion is unlike any other festival I’ve been part of.”

Later, Nicholai hopped back into the spotlight with fellow rapper Pilutaq Lundblad, part of the headline act Sauwestari, a seven-piece Greenlandic reggae band whose horn-fuelled beats pulled many in the crowd off their seats.

Other acts blended traditional and contemporary Inuit music as dozens from the packed all-ages crowd danced below the stage lights, some toddlers riding in the hoods of their dancing moms’ amautiit.

While the festival opened Thursday with smaller events, organizers described Friday night’s show as Alianait’s opening night event.

The concert, staged under the festival’s signature purple and yellow-striped big-top tent, was billed by organizers as “an Inuktitut immersion event.” Artists and emcees addressed the crowd almost exclusively in Inuktitut, or other Indigenous languages, for most of the night.

“I don’t know if you can understand the lyrics, but they’re about politics and colonialism and equality,” said Paaliit Mølgaard, lead vocalist with Sauwestari, as the crowd roared in solidarity.

The night opened with the lighting of the qulliq in a serene ceremony led by Leena Evic alongside her colleagues from the Pirurvik Centre. The pulse of drums was soft in the background.

Alianait co-founder Sylvia Cloutier then performed drum songs from Nunavik, alongside Greenlandic drum dancer Nuka Alice. The pair are part of the Alianait Qilaut Project, which brings drummers from around Inuit Nunangat together to collaborate for the week.

Popular Igloolik hard rock band Northern Haze inspired some of the loudest applause of the night as they sped up the tempo. Members paused to recognize their late bandmates John Iquaq and Naisana Qamaniq, who have passed away.

Throat-singing duo Silla, made up of Igloolik’s Charlotte Qamaniq, left, and Kimmirut’s Cynthia Pitsiulak, perform their modern take on traditional songs Friday night at the Alianait Arts Festival. (Photo by Daron Letts)

The throat-singing duo Silla, made up of Igloolik’s Charlotte Qamaniq and Kimmirut’s Cynthia Pitsiulak, performed their modern take on traditional songs.

The 27th annual Alianait Arts Festival continues through the weekend, with the closing ceremony filling the big-top tent outside Nakasuk school at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.