Yet in the 1950s, the family were relocated to Resolute Bay (“a shithole”) by the Canadian government, making it harder to live off the land. There are bears, seals, and it’s rich in marine life.” It is magical, Tagaq says: “Huge, jagged mountains rise out of the water. Her mother, she tells me, was “born and raised in an igloo” in Pond Inlet, a pristine area above the Arctic Circle. Growing up in a majority Inuit area, now known as Nunavut, Tagaq saw the effect of Canadian attempts to systematically dismantle Inuit culture. Her Inuit heritage is never far from her mind, but instead of making her music nostalgic or folky it brings a political edge. “For instance, the idea of Caribou being sung by someone who eats and hunts caribou, is … just funny to me.” If all this sounds rather intense, Tagaq is happy to laugh at herself: “I find the idea of covering songs from an indigenous woman’s perspective really funny,” she admits.
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