Inuit and Yup'ik Music

The Inuit peoples of the Arctic — including Inuit of Canada and Greenland and the related Yup'ik of Alaska — have a distinct musical tradition shaped by the extremes of Arctic life. The most distinctive practice is katajjaq — Inuit throat singing — performed traditionally by two women facing each other, sharing breath, and interlocking rhythmic vocal patterns of animal sounds, environmental sounds, and abstract vocables into a kind of musical game. The first person to laugh or run out of breath loses. The Inuit frame drum (qilaut or qilaun) — a large, thin drum made of animal hide stretched over a hoop of driftwood or bone — is beaten while a single performer dances and sings, with communal groups responding in chorus. Drum dances are associated with celebrations, hunting success, and conflict resolution through competitive performance. Contemporary artists like Tanya Tagaq (Kivalliq Inuit) have taken katajjaq into entirely new contexts — solo experimental performance, collaboration with rock and electronic musicians — while maintaining deep connection to its Arctic origins.