Katajjaq (pl. katajjait), a Nunavik Inuit term, refers to vocal games and the accompanying throat singing involved in its communal performance. An integral component of cultural heritage among the Inuit of Canada, katajjaq, a female dominated art form is traditionally performed by two women, however, recent trends indicate that katajjaq is being reinvented by numerous male Inuit musicians. Nelson Tagoona, one of the very few male Inuk throat singers, respectfully combines katajjaq and beat-boxing to form a genre he calls “throat-boxing”. Heavily influenced by rock and hip-hop, Nelson was often criticized for not having enough culture in his performances. Nelson took these criticisms to heart and learned katajjaq in order to add more culture to his music. For him, beatboxing and katajjaq was a natural fit. This paper will provide a case study of Nelson Tagoona and examine how he carefully constructs new contexts for katajjaq. Special attention will be given to Nelson’s creative process and how he negotiates and mediates between a female tradition and innovation in order to activate social change and draw attention to the high suicide rates in northern Canada.
About the presenterRaj Shobha Singh
Raj Singh, PhD, is a music researcher in the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University. Her interests include critical Indigenous theory, Indigenous methodologies and Indigenous modernity. Her current work examines how Inuit musicians combine traditional and contemporary forms of music to include new realms of lived experiences. Moreover, her work with Inuit hip hoppers interrogates the intersections between gender, identity, and race as they relate to individual and communal notions of belonging.