Inuit Drum Dancing - Gjoa Haven Drum Dance Festival

[hutuk1]

i love to watch drum dancers!

[niamtxiv]

from california, love it. :-)

[wkringorn]

yeah I agree with people that are saying that is not the way we drum dance, there is supposed to be only one person doing the drum dance but there are 3 of them.....That is how we drum dane in our traditional haritage......

[BOMBOVA]

Benn there, seen this, the woman, are really good.

[twister886]

Whoa! Cool... I find this cool and I'm 14, holy crap.

Nice, I love the diversity. :DDD

Needed this for research paper, TY!

[iamearthbornami]

thank you x

[scradleeee]

Thanks for the upload!

[rkozakand]

I would like to ask why do they have tails on their parkas?

it was my understanding that only women and shamans wore tails on their parkas.

[Ainngai]

ᐅᒥᐊᕐᔫᑉ ᐳᓪᓕᓕᒫᐸᒐ ᑕᑦᑕᕐᓂᖅ ᐊᒻᒪᔭᖅ :D

[jordmusky]

I grew up in the south and have always been embarassed being singled out as the Inuit. With videos like these I have finally come at peace with my culture and am not ashamed to let people know.

[6MemoryOfForever9]

do you realize you are looking at hundreds if not thousands of years of history into mankind's ancient tribal customs and way of life? it is like watching the first people to cross from Asia to Canada, and do these dances!!

[jacksonluver333]

nice job i wish i was there to watch some drum dance say hello from los angeles :)

[OL8Twho]

This is very nice. What kind of leather do they use to make the drums? It's so dark - maybe a walrus or seal skin, (black rhino? just kidding) I only know about deer and elk skins and none are that dark even with hours of smoking them. Thanks for taking us to this place where not many get to go.

[naicheg]

I'm Ojibwe from Minnesota and it's cool to see the different styles of dancing and singing from other tribes that we usually don't see at the powwows here:)

[soccerbabe73]

elsie (formally tracy) evyagotailak from kugluktuk, nunavut, canada..western arctic-kitikmeot region.

i'd have to say that our language isn't really dead, i'd say it's still there, but we need to grasp each opportunity to speak it, and save our traditions/customs/culture. we can thrive and become bilingual just like our elders!

[mauricenanalook]

That was awesome. I'm a drum leader here in alaska. I can never stop watching the drums being used. Don't matter what they are. inuk, yupiaq, Cupiaq, Inupiaq. We all keep our traditions alive. knowing the language does help alot to. Especially making new songs. Quyana, thanks, for the post. Keep it up.

[demoncult99]

AWESOME i love my culture and how your so close your family and friends

[derrbarn14]

this is very differnt then southern part of canadas native drummers. the inuit dance while they drum. but the southerners just drum.

[jordmusky]

@derrbarn14 , Inuit and Natives are two very different cultures. We're just in the same country, you sort of like comparing a Britishman with an Irishman

[windrose777]

I love this

[ariiniusuk]

its not completely true that the language is "dead", kuskokwim area here in Alaska, yupik language is spoken and understood in all ages.., you should see kids down from 2- 10yrs of ages speaking it, its so cute!! by the way love the outfits

[SkawDee37]

We're Not Greenlanders, We're from Nunavut Canada. We (Youth) Also cannot speak our language, Adults/Elders can speak it. I can only sing it, but cannot understand :S

[nancytookoome]

i am also from nunavut, here in the kivalliq region inuktituut is very much alive & is spoken fluently by both elders & youth & even very young children.... in arviat & repulse bay the main language used there is inuktituut, so please becareful in saying that nunavut youth don't use it.

[dylanbarrowak]

its cool that you greenlanders still speak your language. over here in alaska its dead except for the elders.

[Jerrybowyer]

what pathetic people

[qaqqaqtunaaq]

This is great!  Cool drum dancer! He's really good.

[billieder]

Outstanding!!

[alcachofasole]

This is awesome! I was ignorant of the Inuit culture until now... thanks to you tube I came across it.

I love the girls throat singing too! Keep it alive, its beautiful!

[SilverDragoness]

Okay. I have to ask this, because I'm just plain curious at this point. Is there any way to -learn- Inuktitut from outside of Nunavut?

One other question (i'm sorry! LOL), but I've noticed in a few different drum dance posts on YT here, that there seems to be some disagreement on the 'style' and what counts as traditional as far as whether or not the drum gets raised up above the shoulder? Is that a new movement that's been introduced or...?

Sorry for pestering!

~ Seliah

[canuckjazzman]

Hey Seliah,

Drumdancing comes in many different 'styles' depending on where it is coming from - the Eastern Arctic (Baffin) has one style, the Central Arctic (Kitikmeot and Kivalliq) have a slightly different style and the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) another style using much thinner sticks. Greenland Inuit also have their own interpretation. This particular style (drumming and clothing) comes from the Central/Western Arctic - from Kugluktuk (Coppermine). No one style is wrong. :)

[SilverDragoness]

Thanks! That explains quite a bit, actually. I think I've seen two different styles, judging by the description you just gave. :)

Is there a way to get a handle on the Baffin form of the language (Ellesmere Island area), out of curiosity? I know Inuktitut has a bunch of different dialects, but I haven't quite been able to locate more than a lexicon online, really. Which isn't a whole lot of help for pronunciation, sentance structure, grammar and the like.

~ Seliah

[7snow]

practiclly every community has its own dialect hehe, kinda confusing sometimes, but Baffin dialect is easy (for me it is lol, since i'm from there) once you get use to learning the Inuit language and hear it from different regions you can get the hang of which dialect its from ^_^

And to answer your first question: yes, you can, all you have to do is find the people or an inuit organization. there several thousand Inuit living outside of Nunavut (including me lol)

[SilverDragoness]

Thanks so much! I appreciate the heads up. ^_^

I'm in the U.S.; northeastern NY actually, so I'll have to look around. I don't imagine many would be quite this far south (it's too hot even for my tastes most of the year). But hopefully I'll find something.

Thanks again for your response!

~ Seliah

[7snow]

there are about a few thousand in Ottawa alone and some even move to other cities or countries. ^_^

[Dinkadut]

Hej Seliah.

I read your comments and it makes me happy that someone who's not Inuit is intrested on our culture.

We Greenlandic have also different accent and I can't fully understand when someone from North-Greenland speak or Easter-Greenlandic. I'm from the capital city called Nuuk in Greenland. We in Nuuk have a modern culture that has been affected by Denmark and we have almost forgot our Inuit-culture. Only those who live in small communities still have the Inuit.culture.

[arcticboy93]

@SilverDragoness different people are from other bands and tribes this style is from the Nasiliq or people of the seal, my mom is from this tribe and the style is different because we live on the coast of the arctic ocean so... anyways learning inuktitut in other places could be possible but i am currently at BC in the Okanagan, but learning it can be anywhere like yukon nwt or northern quebec like nunavik or on the islands of hudson bay, but each place has a dialect so some words can differ..

[KriistenJewel]

my brother... good jawb!.. XD

[woollyfeet]

cooooollllll!!!

i want one of them coats!

[McDreamyLove]

This is so unique, I've never seen anything like this... I'm obviously not Inuit but I think the culture is fascinating and I hope that today's Inuit youth keep the culture alive for the generations to come.

[serinde123]

This is amazing!!

[aghaliak]

Awesome Boys I love you guys. Keep it up. Be a role model dancer.

[Kleverkreep]

incredible

[vancanman2]

I live almost as far south as you can get in Canada, but I wish we were more exposed to Northern culture.

Do young people in Gjoa Haven speak Inuktitut? Is it taught in schools? I can read about this anywhere, but it would be nice to get information from someone who really knows. Thank you.

[canuckjazzman]

Generally Inuktitut is taught in school through Grade 3 in most communities in Nunavut. That being said, there are some communities where Inuktitut is prevalent, and retained as an important part of culture, tradition and upbringing - and, unfortunately in some, where English has taken over. Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Kugaaruk in the Kitikmeot are more traditional hamlets, but, to the chagrin of the elders, it is hard to find young people these days who will speak Inuktitut outside of the home.

[malelion]

@canuckjazzman Its the same issue we have in Greenland. In the capital, Nuuk, everyone is so into Danish. But all go in small things, like drum dancing and singing. You guys are gonna join ICC, Nuuk, this summer?

[sattvicwarrior]

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thanks for sharing:)

[DrShantele]

wow this is very nice very different from our culture

[SkawDee37]

The Lead dancer is Dettrick Hala, the 2nd dancer is me (Scotty Tologanak), and the last but not least, Myles Pedersen. We are called the Kugluktuk Drum Dancers. We have travelled all over and hope we make it to the 2010 games in B.C. This is a unique form of Inuit Drum Dancing.

[canuckjazzman]

Hi Scotty - thanks for clearing this up - I didn't know your names, but I knew the three of you were from Kugluktuk. We shot a lot of video that weekend for Qauijisaut on Inuit Broadcasting, and your dance was by far the most mesmerizing. I'm in Inuvik now involved in booking traditional events - what are the three of you doing this summer? :)

Tony

[GeekieLove195]

thansk so much i need to do an Inuit dance for school so this is really helpful really appreciate it thanks