Iqaluit-based record label Hitmakerz recently hosted a week-long professional development camp for several Northern Canadian artists.
Shauna Seeteenak, a hip-hop and R&B artist from Iqaluit, said the camp was her first opportunity to work with other people in-person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have not really been working with other people for the past year during the pandemic,” Seeteenak said. “It’s nice to get together and refreshing to be able to learn new things or get ideas from a different person rather than just working on things by yourself.”
Jocelyn Arreak, a rapper based in Pond Inlet, Nunavut who performs under the name Aocelyn, said she hasn’t worked with her co-workers at Hitmakerz in-person since the pandemic started. Seeing her co-workers for the first time since 2019 was refreshing, Arreak said.
According to Thor Simonsen, CEO of Hitmakerz, the development camp happened because Igloolik-based artist Angela Amarualik wanted to connect with songwriter Chris Burkett. Since Burkett lives in Toronto, Amarualik lives in Nunavut and Hitmakerz had three other albums for their six artists to make, Simonsen said they decided the best course of action would be to meet in the central location of Ottawa.
This decision led them to a mansion in Nepean large enough to house all those involved in the camp.
Seeteenak said the event let her connect with new artists, as well as meet artists she had previously worked with, including Jacob Okatsiak, a rapper from Arviat, Nunavut.
“We got our names picked out of a hat [to collaborate] and it just felt like it was meant to be,” Seeteenak said. “It was a really awesome experience to be able to connect with him.”
Meanwhile, Arreak used her time at the camp to shoot a music video for her song I Wish I Was a King, which featured all the other artists at the mansion. She said the camp taught her more about performing.
“I have to get used to performing for three hours without getting tired,” Arreak said. “So I’m working on that a bit. I love it though, it’s my favourite thing to do.”
“There’s not a lot of musical infrastructure and that sometimes creates challenges,” Simonsen said.
He added that those challenges make it hard for Northern artists to learn the business side of the music industry and promote Northern culture through their music.
The professional development camp provided artists with the opportunity to cultivate culture through music and the use of their language. Seeteenak said writing music helped her reconnect with Inuktitut.
“My mother wanted to teach me English so I could be successful in my life and my career,” Seeteenak said. “I grew up around Inuktitut, but I was never pushed to speak it, so I’m not fluent in my language. I wanted to be able to relearn it and learn more about it through writing songs.”
Joey Nowyuk, an artist from Pangnirtung, Nunavut, also said his music helped him connect with Inuktitut when he was a teenager.
“I always wanted to write [music] in Inuktitut. I was writing in English and I always wished [Inuktitut] was as simple,” Nowyuk said. “It’s pretty simple now. Now, I find it so much harder to write in English.”
Nowyuk spent his time at the camp recording a cover album of Inuit folk songs alongside producer Dale Penner.
“They’re songs I grew up listening to that are pretty well known up North,” Nowyuk said. “When I first started playing music, I always enjoyed playing with friends or other people, singing those songs that we already knew. It was always fun and I’ve always wanted to [cover them].”
Simonsen said he was excited to see what was to come from the new connections he and the other artists made during the weeklong camp.
“We’ve definitely met a lot of new people who we’re very excited to be working with more in the future,” Simonsen said. “We’re just trying to make awesome music and trying to bring Grammys to the Arctic.”
Featured image provided by Sarah Elaine McLay.
