Tanya Tagaq released her latest studio album, titled “Saputjiji,” on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Six Shooter Records)
Tanya Tagaq releases anti-war album ‘Saputjiji’
Release is a condemnation of militarism
Tanya Tagaq’s new album is out.
Borrowing its title from the Inuktitut term for “designated protector,” Saputjiji is Tagaq’s eighth studio album. It features 11 tracks, beginning with the provocatively titled F— War, a song in which the artist emits visceral screams and gutteral growls backed by heavy percussion and offbeat power chords.
“I smell falsehood,” she recites in a spoken-word track rich with metaphor. “I open my palms to reveal an alley of sled dogs eating lies. I press my mouth to the ground and join them.”
That energy carries through much of the rest of the album featuring tracks with titles such as Razor Blades, Foxtrot, and Black Boot. In these, Tagaq blends spoken-word poetry with anxious melodies sung in English and Inuktitut as she laments the global pain that militarism and capitalism bring.
Other themes focus on northern issues. In Exit Wound and When They Call, the artist focuses on the anguish wrought by suicide.
Iqaluit performing artist Celina Kalluk provides vocals on the album along with Toronto-based punk recording artist Damian Abraham, among other guest musicians.
Tagaq, who was scheduled to perform Friday in London, England, was unavailable for an interview for this story due to her travel schedule, said a representative from her label Six Shooter Records.
It’s the same thing over and over with her – Colonialism. It’s frustrating to see the same narrative repeated that frames places like Nunavut mainly through victimhood. History matters and shouldn’t be ignored, but constantly returning to grievance risks overshadowing resilience and progress. When public figures like Tanya Tagaq focus so heavily on that framing, it can feel like the conversation is stuck looking backward instead of encouraging empowerment, responsibility, and a stronger path forward.
im sorry reality is repetitive to you.
The artist that lives in the south, works with southern musicians, southern producers, and a southern record label, and panders to the southern sanctimonious crowd, claims she wants to “bring Nunavut to the stage” with her new album, even though she’s only appeared on a stage in Nunavut once in the past… 20 years? And it was 9 years ago at the high school. I imagine it’s because nobody here really likes the music.
It’s all the same sound, performance after performance, just Gibberish coming out of her mouth. As an Inuk, I have No clue what she’s saying, must likely her as well. Sorry Tanya, no one is really drinking you’re cup of Gib!