Elder Kinngait has a collection of almost 1,000-year-old Inuktitut songs

Three Kinngait Elders have recorded over 1,000-year-old Inuktitut songs for the Hitmakerz record label.

Inngiusituqait, the project’s title, was released on November 4th. Unilingual Elders Masuriaq Qavianaqtuliaq, Novalinga Kinguatsiak, and Ujjualuk Etidloie performed, with colleague Elder Annie Petaulassie serving as host.

In a press statement, Hitmakerz noted, “All four Elders were born on the land and remembered what life was like before the arrival of Qallunaat.”

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The album’s title translates to “traditional songs” in the Inuit language.

According to Hitmakerz, “the Inngiusituqait action was created to assure that these songs. Which have been saved for generations over oral traditions, were recorded by their original speakers before they were lost in time.”

Petaulassie, a former teacher and survivor of a residential school, “envisioned the project as informative material, easily approachable for anyone requiring to experience traditional Inuit life or discover Inuktitut.”

To attract the attention of Inuit youth, the recordings will be aggressively advertised on social media. The songs were translated by Kinngait inhabitants. While specific lyrics could not be immediately translated because there are no equivalents in other languages, according to Hitmakerz.

Source: Reddit, NNSL MEDIA