Tanya Tagaq

• country:Canada
• region:North America
• style(s):Experimental, Throatsinging
• label:Jerich Beach Music
• type:Solo
• gender:female
• instrumentation:vocal
• artist posted by:Mainstage Management Inc.

Line up

• Jean Martin (Percussion)
• Jesse Zubot (Violin, viola)
• Michael Red (DJ)

Links

• Tagaq Website
• Artist Facebook fan page

"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."
The National Post, Canada

"... [Tagaq] made it (Inuit throat singing) sound fiercely contemporary, futuristic even. Recalling animal noises and various other nature sounds, she was a dynamo, delivering a sort of gothic sound art while she stalked the small basement stage with feral energy."
Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

"... Tagaq rose to the occasion with a performance that was simply elemental. Her approach is essentially abstract ...Yet her singing delivered very concrete images of winter storms and summer sunshine, of birth and death and sexual ecstasy, of struggle and survival."
Review of Jan 30, 2010 performance with Kronos Quartet
Alex Varty, The Georgia Straight

What do free improvisation, Inuit throat singing, and hair-raising passion have in common? Add descriptors like mesmerizing, intimate and 'pushing the edge' and you begin to understand the endlessly inventive quality of Tanya Tagaq's sonic equation.

Born and raised in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut in Canada's high arctic, Tanya grew up surrounded by Inuit and western culture. It wasn't until her teenage years that she began experimenting with Inuit throat singing, developing her signature solo style. Her first professional gig at a festival in Inuvik won the admiration of friends of Bjork, eventually leading to an appearance on the Icelandic artist's 2004 CD, Medulla and a chance to accompany her on tour.

Tanya has released two critically-acclaimed albums, Sinaa and Auk/Blood, both of which were nominated for Juno Awards and won awards at the 2005 and 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. In 2005, the world-renowned Kronos Quartet invited her to participate in a monumental collaborative project Nunavut, which was performed across North America and Europe. The ensemble reunited in 2007 for the creation of Tundra Songs by Derek Charke.

Recently venturing into film, Tanya contributed to the "Diaries of Knut Rasmussen" soundtrack and acted as musician/narrator for the award-winning National Film Board documentary, This Land. She joined forces with musician Jesse Zubot and filmmakers Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael for the video Tungijuq, which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and 2010 Sundance Film Festival and also won "Best Short Drama" at the 2009 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Awards.

October 2011, saw the release of a live album, anuraaqtu; (Inuktitut for Wind). The album features Tanya with Jean Martin and Jesse Zubot in performance at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.

Tanya is presently at work on a new studio album, slated for release in 2012