Tanya Tagaq

ARTIST: Tanya Tagaq

COUNTRY: Canada

GENRE: Inuit throat singing

MORE ABOUT: Startlingly innovative vocal explorations from Inuit throat-singer, who has collaborated with Bjork, Kronos Quartet, Mike Patton, Sainkho Namtchylak… Tanya Tagaq is genuinely one of those rare artists whose sounds and styles are truly groundbreaking. ‘Inuit throat singer’ is one part of her sonic quotient, so are descriptions like ‘orchestral’ and ‘primal’. Since the release of her debut CD Sinaa (meaning ‘edge’) in 2005, the Nunavut-born singer has not just attracted the attention of some of the world’s most groundbreaking artists, they have invited her to participate on their own musical projects. Recently recording once again with Bjork (on the soundtrack for the Matthew Barney film Drawing Restraint 9), having appeared on Bjork’s Medulla CD and accompanied her on the Vespertine tour. In 2007, another monumental collaborative project came to fruition, when the world-renowned Kronos Quartet invited Tanya to participate – as co-writer and performer – on a project aptly titled Nunavut, performed across North America in 2008, from its debut at the Chan Centre, Vancouver BC through to New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sinaa was nominated for a Juno Award (Best Aboriginal Recording) and won in three categories at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, including Best Female Artist. She has just released her sophomore album, ‘Auk~Bood’ featuring Mike Patton and Buck 65.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:
- “Auk” (2008)
- “Sinaa” (2005)

SELECTED VIDEOS:

Tanya Tagaq with Bjork and Rahzel (live)

Tanya Tagaq with Kronos Quartet

Tanya Tagaq - Improvised performance for the Open University

SELECTED PRESS REVIEWS AND QUOTES:
“A mind-blowing vocal technique!” (Time Out)
“A magnificent, unique, over-whelming life-force” (fRoots)
“Totally gripping” (Uncut)
“An extraordinary live performer” (Songlines)
“Tanya is directly musically in touch with something that is almost a ghost. To me, it is something that is so special and so much a part of the earth and the land and the environment.” David Harrington, Kronos Quartet
“[Tanya's music is] like Edith Piaf or something…totally emotional.” Bjork
“Traditional throat singing is a game between two women that is an emulation of the sounds from the land. It is a very complicated game where you are making two sounds and you have to go back and forth alternating the sounds. The leader can change the song to the next verse anytime they want to, so you have to be able to follow them. It is not emotional, although it may sound that way. It is a game, you giggle afterwards” Tanya Tagaq
“Calling Tanya Tagaq an Inuit throat singer is like calling Yo-Yo Ma a cello player. Sure, it’s accurate, but it’s not the whole of what he does. Like Ma, Tagaq is the best of what she does – innovative, inspired. Seeing her live, she gets deep into her rhythms and her passions are obvious.” Brad Frenette, The National Post
“It was one of the most powerful shows in the history of the festival!” (New Forms Festival)
“David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet calls Tagaq ‘the Jimi Hendrix of Inuit throat singers’ and the analogy is spot-on. Like Hendrix, Tagaq seeks to elicit the valuable, primitive unconscious — the internal made external — that lies dormant and untapped in us all. Yet, as with Hendrix, it was the future-leaning, musically avant-garde approach she took in drawing out these primordial impulses that was the evening’s biggest thrill.” (LA Times)

SELECTED PERFORMANCES:

- 2010 Paralympic Closing Ceremony, Whistler, Canada (2010)
- New Music Festival, Winnipeg, Canada (2010) (with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra)
- Carnegie Hall, New York, USA (2010) (with Kronos Quartet)
- The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Vancouver, Canada (2010) (with Kronos Quartet)
- London International Festival of Exploratory Music, London, UK (2009)
- Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia (2009)
- Estonian Traditional Music Center, Viljandi, Estonia (2009)
- New Moves International Festival, Glasgow, UK (2009)
- Casa da Musica, Oporto, Portugal (2009)
- Palác Akropolis, Prague, Czech Republic (2009)
- Colours of Ostrava Festival, Ostrava, Czech Republic (2008)
- WOMEX, Seville, Spain (2008)
- Disney Hall, Los Angeles, USA (2008) (with Kronos Quartet)
- Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France (2007) (with Kronos Quartet)
- Kolner Philharmonic, Koln, Germany (2007) (with Kronos Quartet)
- Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Edmonton, 2007
- Winnipeg Folk Music Festival, Winnipeg, Canada (2007)
- Calgary Folk Music Festival, Calgary, Canada (2007)
- Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Vancouver, Canada (2007)
- Celtic Connections, Glasgow, UK (2007)
- New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna, Austria (2006) (with Kronos Quartet)
- Carnegie Hall, New York City, USA (2006) (with Kronos Quartet)
- The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Vancouver, Canada (2006) (with Kronos Quartet)
- Guelph Jazz Festival, Guelph, Canada (2006)
- Atlantic Waves Festival, London, UK (2006) (with Sainkho Namtchylak, Shlomo, Dokaka, Maria Joao and Americo Rodrigues)

Listen to Tanya Tagaq interview for BBC World Today on the BBC World Service (04jan2010):

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