ELISAPIE WILL PERFORM THURSDAY, JULY 24

When her fourth album Inuktitut was released in 2023, Elisapie had no idea that non-Inuit listeners would embrace each song with the same enthusiasm as her Northern brethren. In her recollections, tipsy local revellers are crowding the dance floor, a full moon is shining through the window, and it’s always Friday night at the Ikkarivvik Bar in Kuujjuaq. Elisapie was a teenager here in Nunavik, Northern Quebec, singing along (no doubt at full volume) to the wistful, escape-songs that flooded the community radio airwaves: “I Want to Break Free”, “Dreams”, “Time After Time”… These songs of hope followed Elisapie throughout her musical journey, transcending the borders of this once-HBC outpost on Ungava Bay. When she decided to record each song using the 1,000-year old Inuktitut language and thoughtful, Inuit musicality that pays homage to the slow rhythm of the land, Elisapie knew it might be a hard sell. Promoting any record in this day and age is difficult, let alone a non-Anglophone record sung in a language spoken by less than 50,000 people. But there is something magical about this collection of songs. Maybe it’s the strong sense of home that Elisapie and her collaborator, Joe Grass, were able to imbue in each track - the unfamiliar language delightfully contradicts each familiar melody, leaving you nostalgic for a place you’ve never been to, and never want to leave. - Chantal Vitalis