The show, called \u201cUvattini<\/em>\u201d (meaning \u2018at home\u2019 or \u2018chez nous\u2019) is in support of her new album \u201cInuktitut\u201d released on September 15, 2023, to wide acclaim. It\u2019s a collection of 10 cover versions of major hits by legendary bands such as Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Queen, Pink Floyd, Metallica, and The Rolling Stones.
\u201cIt was a risk that we took,\u201d explained Elisapie in an interview a few days following the shows at Usine C. \u201cWe recorded the album in Montreal in December 2021 over a few weeks.\u201d Then, her record company had a year to get permissions from the 10 bands to use the songs. She says, \u201cWe wrote to the rights holders for each band, with a short description of the project, and a recording of the song we covered. Some said yes right away, the Metallica team, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen. I received a nice letter from Debbie Harry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.makivvik.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3rd.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1\")
They were getting close to the end of the year, but Elisapie wouldn\u2019t give up on Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. She resorted to inside rock and roll contacts. A chance conversation with a longtime Quebec rock promoter who produced Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd concerts in the 1970s helped close the deal to include \u201cGoing to California,\u201d and \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d on the album. Despite the fact the 10 songs are massive international hits, \u201cInuktitut\u201d is a deeply personal album for Elisapie. She sings in Inuktitut throughout, transforming the rock songs into soft haunting folk-jazz treatments. \u201cI really dug deep. Each song brings back a special memory. I decided it\u2019s the ones that made me cry \u2013 out of sadness, but also out of beauty \u2013 that were chosen for the album.\u201d \u201cI just wanted to show that beyond the music I am very much inspired by things that weren\u2019t told anymore. I grew up with elderly parents, and talking about Shamanism was a taboo, and the ayaya songs. I never heard them, except for one old lady, those hypnotic sounds we had not long ago.\u201d Elisapie is proud to play some, and she includes Slyvia Cloutier as one of her musicians to incorporate Inuit throat singing into several of the songs. It\u2019s very powerful. Following Elisapie\u2019s admission of her obsession with Leonard Cohen, and a cover version of \u2018Taimaa Qimatsiniungimat<\/em>\u2019 \u2018Hey, That\u2019s No Way to Say Goodbye\u2019, the show ends on a high note with the 1979 disco romp \u2018Born to be Alive\u2019 \u2018Inuuniaravit<\/em>\u2019 a one-hit-wonder by Patrick Hernandez. She invites the crowd to come on stage and dance with her. \u201cIt felt like an ABBA clip where everybody\u2019s dancing on stage, and I\u2019m like, \u2018ohhhhh I\u2019m realizing my dream!\u2019\u201d By Stephen Hendrie In the middle of one of her sold-out shows at Usine C in Montreal on December 9th, Elisapie explains the meaning of \u201cwow\u201d [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17785,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"taqralik-issues":[434,126],"class_list":["post-17381","taqralikonline","type-taqralikonline","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","taqralik-issues-434","taqralik-issues-winter"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/17381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/taqralikonline"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/17381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17409,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralikonline\/17381\/revisions\/17409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"taqralik-issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taqralik-issues?post=17381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
And what an album! \u201cInuktitut\u201d has received wide praise, notably in Rolling Stone Magazine \u2013 the rock and roll bible \u2013 which called it \u201can emotional memoire for Elisapie, tied to specific times in her life.\u201d The magazine praised the first single and video from the album, Isumagijunnaitaungituq<\/em> (The Unforgiven) by Metallica. It was released in June to promote the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.makivvik.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2nd.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1\")
Her record company \u2013 Bonsound \u2013 created a stunning vinyl edition of the album, including a photo of Elisapie with professional hair and makeup. The syllabics for \u201cInuktitut\u201d appear on the cover as translucent bubbles. Inside the gatefold sleeve, there are lengthy liner notes, and thank yous to family and friends. George Kakayuk, founder and lead singer of the Salluit Band is one of them. \u201cMy uncle has always been a great singer, such a soulful singer. He writes beautiful music,\u201d said Elisapie. She recalled being privileged to be in the room when the band would rehearse, or jam at 2 am. \u201cIt\u2019s like I always say, they prepared me to be in a band, to be among musicians.\u201d
Back at Usine C in Montreal, the audience learns about Elisapie before the show even begins. There\u2019s a series of photos and objects related to her upbringing in Salluit that set the context before the crowd enters the concert hall. Vintage images, curated with the help of the Avataq Cultural Institute, show Salluit in the 1960s and 70s. She also included some classic CBC North recordings on the wall, such as Charlie Adams. Entering the concert hall, there\u2019s a projection of a tent glowing at night, and on stage a huge ghetto blaster, seemingly carved out of ice.
She opens with \u2018uummati attanarsimat<\/em>\u2019 Blondie\u2019s \u2018Heart of Glass\u2019, followed by \u2018taimangalimaaq<\/em>\u2019 \u2013 Cyndi Lauper\u2019s \u2018Time After Time\u2019. Elisapie has similar hair and makeup on the album cover, and a long flowing floor length dress make from fabric strips. It looks like she can fly. The audience reaction is loud and immediate. Between songs Elisapie tells stories about growing up in Salluit, in Nunavik, or relies on projections with vintage broadcasts in Inuktitut only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.makivvik.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/4th.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1\")
There\u2019s a moment of surreal beauty in the presentation of \u2018qausimalaurittuq<\/em>\u2019 \u2018Wish You Were Here\u2019 by Pink Floyd. The stage lights dim, and the band shed their instruments and huddle around Elisapie. With only a violin, picked like a guitar, the song is transformed into a deeply moving acapella chant. \u201cIt\u2019s a song we used to listen to all the time,\u201d says Elisapie. \u201cEspecially when somebody died. It\u2019s very emotional. I wasn\u2019t sure how I was going to do it live. The guys support me. I haven\u2019t cracked yet!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.makivvik.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/end.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
The dream continues in 2024. \u2018Uvattini<\/em>\u2019 goes on tour to dozens of cities in Quebec, Ontario, the USA, France, and Belgium. She hopes to bring the show to the Arctic eventually. \u201cI\u2019ve never been to Pangnirtung, I want to go to Greenland.\u201d Wow!
Further Browsing<\/strong>
Full tour dates are available online at elisapie.com along with links to buy albums, tour merchandise, and see the videos related to the \u201cInuktitut\u201d album.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"