'I've never felt so at home': Tom Power, host of CBC's q, hosts Nunavut Music Week

q host Tom Power calls his first visit to Iqaluit for Nunavut Music Week 'transformative,' and says the Iqaluit music scene 'stacks up against anything happening in North America right now.'

A packed concert launches 4 days of music and networking for musicians and industry pros in Iqaluit

Catherine Pigott · CBC News · Posted: Apr 26, 2019 5:36 PM EDT | Last Updated: April 26, 2019

Iqaluit rapper Mister being interviewed by q host Tom Power after performing for Nunavut Music Week (Madeleine Allakariallak/CBC)

CBC's pop culture weekday morning show q is known for featuring the music world's hottest performers, but Tom Power, the show's host, says he's amazed by the talent he's discovering in Iqaluit during Nunavut Music Week, calling his first visit to the territory "transformative."

Power hosted Thursday night's kick off concert for the second annual Nunavut Music Week. Juno winners The Jerry Cans, rapper F--kmr, soul singer Josh Q, folk musician Aasiva, and Riit performed for a packed auditorium at Inuksuk High School.

q will broadcast the concert the week of May 13.

"So much amazing music is being made in Iqaluit right now of extremely high calibre that I'd stack that up against anything happening now in North America," Power said. "And this is a community of 8,000 people! That's the hook."

I've never felt so at home.- Tom Power, host of q

Power said he knew when he took over as host of q that he wanted to bring the show to Iqaluit. He'd seen the impact q could have on a local music scene when it came to his hometown of St. John's.

The Jerry Cans invited Power after they did an interview on the show. And when the record label behind Nunavut Music Week, Aakuluk Music, asked q to participate, "we were on our way," Power said.

q host Tom Power tends the qulliq, after CBC producer Lucy Burke taught him how. 'I feel fully changed in some way,' Power says of his time in Iqaluit. (Madeleine Allakariallak/CBC)

Nunavut Music Week offers experienced and emerging northern musicians a chance to meet and learn from music industry veterans and music journalists.

The world is listening: first Nunavut Music Week festival underway in Iqaluit

q is not only in Iqaluit for the music, Power explains, it's there for the stories. "I felt the show had an opportunity to just listen to some of the things that we should really be hearing."

Power talked to each of the performers on stage during the concert about how they got into music and how the music scene is developing in Nunavut, as well as "some of the harder issues" people face in the territory.

He quoted a tweet with the words of the Jerry Can's Nancy Mike after her performance: "this is healing. There's healing happening in this room right now."

Power said what he felt was gratitude. "It was so meaningful for me to be able to hear that, feel that and be present."

The feeling of being welcomed started the first night Power arrived in Iqaluit, when he was invited to dinner at the home of Madeleine Allakariallak, the host of CBC North's Igalaaq. CBC North colleagues cooked maktaaq (whale blubber), caribou meat, and seal, Power said. A qulliq, a traditional Inuit oil lamp, glowed on the table.

"We just talked and we talked and we talked, and I felt genuinely moved by that night," he said.

Igalaaq producer Pauline Pemik cutting up pieces of maktaaq and caribou for the crew from q on their first night in Iqaluit. (Madeleine Allakariallak/CBC)

Power's musical roots are in St John's, where his band the Dardanelles brings traditional Newfoundland music to festivals around the world. Power experienced the northern sense of community at the Nunavut Music Week's concert after-party.

"I've never felt so at home," he said.

Nunavut Music Week continues until Apr. 28.