Sultans Of String have shared this new video as an opportunity to celebrate the richness and resilience of diverse Inuit cultures. Tracy Sarazin and Kendra Tagoona have been performing Inuit throat singing for over twenty years, a tradition practiced by Inuit women as a game and a friendly competition.
Throat singing mimics sounds from the Arctic environment, such as the river and the wind. It starts with one person making a sound, and then the next person repeats this sound immediately after. The leader switches the sound and the rhythm in an attempt to make the follower make a mistake.
Tracy and Kendra enjoy sharing the beauty of Inuit culture with national and international audiences. Friends taught them how to throat sing when they were in their early 20s. They wanted to learn to help revitalize this practice, which was almost lost due to colonization practices. Now, they perform to promote reconciliation and share Inuit culture. “We are happy to work with others and share our culture, and also face the hard truths of what happened in the past and move forward” says Tracy Sarazin, originally from Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
“It is very important to collaborate and work together – Indigenous people deserve to fit in in any part of Canadian culture” Tracy continues “Throat singing is a very important part of Inuit culture, that was almost lost during colonization. I’ve been told by my family members that they were not allowed to practice drumming or throat singing. The church and the government tried to take control of Inuit lives and one of the ways to do that was to ban certain things from our culture.”
Sultans violinist Chris McKhool, who was recently awarded the Dr. Duke Redbird Lifetime Achievement Award by Redbird and JAYU Arts for Human Rights for working to amplify these truths through collaborations, says, “This country has a history that has been ignored, distorted, twisted to suit colonialist goals of destroying a people. We are so fortunate for the opportunity to work with Indigenous artists, sharing their stories, their experiences, and their lives with us, so we can continue our work of learning about the history of residential schools, genocide, and intergenerational impacts of colonization. Music has a special capacity for healing, connecting, and expressing truth.”
Sultans of String is a fiercely independent band that has always tried to lift up those around them and has exposed many of their collaborators and special guests to new audiences at their shows, including at JUNOfest, NYC’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club, Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, and London’s Trafalgar Square. Led by Queen’s Diamond Jubilee recipient McKhool, they have collaborated with orchestras across North America and have played live on CBC’s Canada Live, BBC TV, Irish National Radio, and SiriusXM in Washington. They have recorded and performed with such diverse luminaries as Paddy Moloney & The Chieftains, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Richard Bona, Alex Cuba, Ruben Blades, Benoit Bourque, and Béla Fleck.
Their work during the pandemic on The Refuge Project amplified the voices of new immigrants and refugees, earning them CFMAs and Best Musical Film at the Cannes World Film Festival.
Thanks to non-indigenous funding streams of Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada and Ontario Arts Council – Conseil des arts de l’Ontario for their support.
