Tudjaat

Tudjaat are Madeleine Allakariallak and Phoebe Atagotaaluk, two Inuit women from Nunavut, Canada who are keeping the ancient tradition of Inuit throat singing alive. Tudjaat got its start when Madelaine, who performed as part of a backup chorus with Susan Aglukark's third CD, was noticed by its producer, Randall Prescott. When he learned that she had a cousin who was also a throat singer, he arranged to have them brought together for a recording session which combined their traditional singing and modern music. This short (six tracks) self-titled CD featured Kajusita (When My Ship Comes In), a song which won its producer the 1997 American Indian Film Institute Awards Best Song award, was included on a United Nations compilation CD, and was made into a music video. The song, which describes the forced exile of a group of Inuit to the High Arctic in the last century, is a painful and poignant tribute to those who suffered and died as a consequence of a questionable government decision. After the short-lived career of Tudjaat, Allakariallak worked for the CBC Northern Service and then in 2005 became a news host on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.