MUSIC FROM CANADA'S NORTHERN REGIONS
by Paul-Emile Comeau

Northern Canada is a vast area with a relatively small and dispersed population, but it's also an area that has had a thriving and fairly diverse music scene for years. In the 80s CBC Radio produced over a dozen impressive albums by local, mostly Inuit, performers who, unfortunately, never became widely available. Sadly, very few recordings by native performers from the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut, such as those by Charlie Panigoniak, Willie Thrasher, and William Tagoona, are currently available. Although Inuit art has become increasingly available and popular since novelist James Houston discovered it on a trip there in 1948, very little of the area's recorded output is accessible outside the area, and most Northern performers are unknown elsewhere in Canada. A few native acts, such as Susan Aglukark, Jerry Alfred, and Kashtin, have nonetheless become well known throughout the country and even beyond. Several modern composers who prefer to live in a more southern climate have also, on occasion, drawn their inspiration from the Arctic region and its landscape.

The Yukon Territory is home to four annual festivals, the most notable being February's Frostbite Music Festival. Whitehorse, the capitol, also has a new Arts Centre that has become an important venue. Notable artists from the Yukon who have put out albums over the years include the John Steins/Scott Sheerin duo, Rob Wallinger, and Daniel Janke. The most well-known artist is probably Juno Award winner Jerry Alfred & The Medicine Beat, whose first two acclaimed albums, Etsi Shon and Nendaa, were released on Red House in the U.S. Alfred's latest album, Kehlonn [Caribou CRCD004], features the same band, minus some of the guest musicians featured on the earlier releases. It's another impressive production of traditional-type songs, often presented with modern arrangements. Alfred sings in the Tutchone language, of which there are fewer than 200 speakers left, and the material reflects the Tutchone Nation's culture. All three of his albums are worthwhile.