q live in Iqaluit | Day one: Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Peter Autut and more

Originally published on May 13, 2019

This week on q, we're featuring some of the best music and art from Iqaluit.

We ventured up North during the second annual Nunavut Music Week to tape a special evening of q live in the Tisi multipurpose room of Inuksuk High School, since Iqaluit doesn't have a dedicated performing arts space.

Here are a few of the amazing artists and musicians that joined us for that show. 

The Inuksuk Drum Dancers perform an original composition

The Inuksuk Drum Dancers are a choral group of girls in grades eight to 12, who perform traditional Inuit music, which includes throat singing, drum dancing and contemporary Inuit songs from across the North. They've opened for performers all across the country, like Hey Rosetta! and Beatrice Dear.

Kicking off q LIVE in Iqaluit, the Inuksuk Drum Dancers, led by their choir director Dr. Mary Piercy, performed an original composition.

Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory on the need for a permanent performance space

Performance artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory has wowed audiences from Iqaluit to Toronto with her play Kiviuq Returns: An Inuit Epic. While her work is world-class, the reality of rehearsing and performing in the North means that her theatre group rehearses and performs in living rooms, conference rooms and even an igloo.

She sat down with Tom Power to discuss why she's made it her mission to bring a permanent performing space to Iqaluit. Bathory is the artistic director of the Qaggiavuut Society for Nunavut Performing Arts.

The Jerry Cans perform Makiliqta

The Jerry Cans are a Juno-nominated band from Iqaluit that have toured all across Canada. They've helped establish a thriving music community in Nunavut. Joining us live on stage in front of a hometown crowd, they performed their song Makiliqta.

Later this week on q, catch more music from The Jerry Cans and the full conversation with the band's throat singer, Nancy Mike.

Tom Power gets a crash course in Inuktitut

Pauline Pemik, a producer at CBC North, graciously agreed to help our host learn a few important words and phrases in Inuktitut. Spoiler alert: it's a pretty tough language for an English speaker to pick up quickly.

Comedian Peter Autut gives us his 'tight five'

A few years ago, Peter Autut had never performed stand-up comedy. But after entering and winning a local Iqaluit comedy competition, he found himself being flown down to Ottawa to open for celebrated comedian, Derek Edwards.

Autut opened up about that experience and shared some of his comedy with us — and, little did we know, we inspired him to deviate from his usual routine when our producer asked him to do a "tight five" (a five-minute set).

Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full show.

— Produced by Mitch Pollock