Welcome to the Northern Lights Trade Show 2008
ArtCirq – Arctic Circus
Igloolik, Nunavut
ArtCirq is a video-making, circus-performing and music-playing company based in Igloolik, Nunavut. The goal of ArtCirq is to travel around the world to bridge artists and celebrate Inuit culture, both traditional and modern. Through music, circus and video-making, this troop provides workshops and performances locally, nationally and internationally. At present, the company has more than 20 members participating in various forms. For more information about this truly unique and magical northern phenomenon, visit: www.artcirq.org.
Sylvia Cloutier
Kuujjuaq, Nunavik
Originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Sylvia now resides in Iqaluit, Nunavut with her 10 year old son. She is a performing artist, well known for Inuit throat singing with her company Aqsarniit, as well as for her collaboration with artists around the world, including the band Think of One from Belgium; Tafelmusik, a world-renowned baroque orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario; and Montreal-based DJ Madeskimo. Sylvia has also been involved in a variety of productions. She produces music for films, documentaries, radio, and television. She has been involved with training youth in video production and produced her first television series, Inuit Piqqusingit, with Inuit Communications Systems Limited from 1999–2002. Sylvia is presently the Artistic Director of Qaggiq Theatre Company and works with youth in theatre and musical projects that encourage creative expression, address social issues, and promote Inuit culture.
Beatrice Deer
Quaqtaq, Nunavik
Beatrice was born and raised in a village by the sea called Quaqtaq, which has a population of approximately 350. Her mother is Inuit and her father is part Mohawk. Beatrice and her husband, guitarist Charles Keelan, have performed throughout the north to promote their unique sound, including a spot at the CBC True North Concert in 2004 and the Alianait Arts Festival in 2006. Beatrice’s first album Just Bea, recorded in Kuujjuaq, was met with rave reviews, and at the 2005 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, the album won an award in the Best Inuit Cultural Album category. Beatrice continues to perform for audiences far and wide – including this past December at the Parliament of Quebec for the Agreement in Principal for the Nunavik Government.
The Flummies
Labrador
The Flummies originally formed in the 1970s and are a six-piece Inuit group based out of the Newfoundland and Labrador community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The Flummies’ musical style is a blend of traditional accordion mixed with country rock. The Flummies have 7 albums to their credit. The band is starring in their own one-hour documentary entitled Lab-Originals, now airing on Bravo Canada and APTN. Their new album, This Is The Life For Me was released in November 2007 and has been selling like crazy ever since. The Flummies took home an Aboriginal Artist/Group of the Year Award at Music NL in 2002 and the Aboriginal Album of the Year at the ECMAs in 2003. They have also acted as Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Ambassadors.
Lucie Idlout
Iqaluit, Nunavut
The Globe & Mail described Lucie as “A one-woman revolution in Canadian music, taking the old blues wraiths and wrestling them into fierce new shapes.” In 2003, Lucie won a Canadian Aboriginal award for Best Female Vocalist, and she has been nominated for Best Rock Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. She has toured clubs and rock festivals extensively across Canada and Europe, earning enthusiastic reviews wherever she goes. Lucie was host to the top-rated entertainment magazine Buffalo Tracks on APTN, and has acted in a score of theatre pieces. Lucie’s debut CD, E5-770: My Mother’s Name, appeared in the film Crime Spree, featuring Harvey Keitel and Gérard Depardieu.
Insolita
Montreal, Quebec
Insolita is a state of being, springing from the sun, from the land of our ancestors. It is a world reflecting parallel universes, encompassing past, present, and future realities. Insolita is another vision of the world, with myths and beliefs from every period. From the first scene, audience members will be transported to a new dimension into unusual surroundings, whereby the fusion of arts, styles and cultures create a unique experience possible only in the Universe of Insolita. Insolita is a production encompassing visual and musical performances where voices and percussions intertwine to create a vibrant tribute to Energy. Insolita is an invented term signifying an endless source of energy… a source of energy living in the core of the spirit, in the heart of the sun.
Johnny Issaluk
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Johnny Issaluk is originally from a small arctic hamlet on the coast of Hudson’s Bay in Nunavut called Igluligaarjuk (known as Chesterfield Inlet). He presently resides in Iqaluit, Nunavut with his young family where he works for the Government of Nunavut as a Human Resources Manager. Johnny has been successfully competing in arctic sports since the age of 23. He has won countless medals over the last decade at both the regional and the national level. When Johnny is not performing arctic sports at home and abroad, he also enjoys volunteering his time coaching and training the younger generation at the local gym. As well as his love of arctic sports, Johnny is a devoted father and a skilled hunter with a love of the land and his traditional roots.
Celina Kalluk
Qausuittuq, Nunavut
Celina is a multi-talented visual and performing artist from Qausuittuq. She has performed nationally and internationally as a throat singer and she continues to explore the experiences of her culture through her visual art. For the past two years, Celina has engaged youth in Iqaluit to help create a large mural on the side of the city wall celebrating the Alianait Arts Festival. Celina is also a skilled fashion designer and seamstress. Celina co-owns Atiigo Media and lives in Iqaluit with her partner and their three daughters.
Simeonie Keenainak
Pangnirtung, Nunavut
Simeonie is Nunavut’s best known accordion-player and hails from Pangnirtung, a community of 1,500. He currently works at the Attagoyuk School and is a retired RCMP officer, avid hunter and successful wildlife photographer.
Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak
Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Arvaarluk was born in 1948 at Qatiktalik, Nunavut. Growing up, he lived the nomadic life of his people, the Inuit, travelling by dog sled and building igloos where night found them. Every night, Michael fell asleep to his grandmother telling the ancient legends. At the age of six, Michael’s world changed; he was taken to a residential school. The following year, when the aeroplane cam e to take him back to that loveless world, Arvaarluk ran away. He skipped school that year. Eventually, Arvaarluk attended university, flew aeroplanes, and tried photography, pottery and the civil service. In 1988, he collaborated with Robert Munsch on a book. Since then, Michael has written eight more. He travels the world, telling the legends his grandmother told him in their igloo.
Michael lives in Rankin Inlet, enjoying his companion Geraldine, his dog, his sons, his much-loved grandchildren, and of course the beloved land where he grew up. Awards include: The Curse of the Shaman, shortlisted for the Anskohk Award in Saskatchewan; and, Northern Lights, The Soccer Trails for the Ruth Schwartz Award, also shortlisted for the Aesop Prize in the U.S.
Shirley Montague
Labrador
Originating from one of Canada’s special wild places, Labrador, and presently residing in the midst of one of Canada’s most celebrated national parks, Gros Morne, Shirley’s writings are filled with nature’s imagery. With a career spanning recordings, television, radio, and live performance, she has reached into the hearts and homes of many. In 2005, Shirley released her sixth recording, “Montage”, an aptly titled collection of twelve songs written over a 25 year period with moods ranging from humour to melancholy and passing through all points in between. Shirley has worked with many respected musicians from Atlantic Canada and is considered a pillar of the music industry. She has been a mentor and an inspiration to many and has helped pave the way for other songwriters in Labrador and beyond.
