Women’s Voices: Katajjaq (Inuit Throat Singing Tradition)

 

Culture is a created way of knowing, understanding, and believing about the social world(s) we live in.  There are (very conservatively) thousands of cultures around the world, and while there are definitely several similarities among cultural groups there are aspects that can and do make cultures unique.  One aspect that comes to mind is throat singing, which is a type of musical performance often a single pitch with various harmonics.  Throat singing is found in various cultures, but today’s blog post will focus on one specific culture and its throat singing practices: the Inuit’s Katajjaq tradition.

 

The Inuit are cultural group that exists throughout the Artic, including in modern day Canada, Alaska, and Greenland.  They have existed in this region for thousands of years, adapting their cultural ways to thriving in this year round cold climate.  Their means of subsistence is foraging (also known as hunting and gathering), which is largely the pursuit of Inuit men.  Women, however, do contribute to the hunting parties, though.  They do this through the practice of the Katajjaq tradition.

 

Katajjaq is considered a vocal game among the Inuit, and it is an important oral tradition.  It is unclear how long the Inuit have practiced Katajjaq, in part because the Inuit do not have a written record and much of their cultural knowledge was lost and destroyed due to colonization.  Despite these interruptions the Inuit continue to practice Katajjaq today.

 

Katajjaq is traditionally sung by women (Figure 1), but due to changing cultural values men are practicing it, as well.  Katajjaq entails two women (although sometimes up to four or five) who sing together.  The women face each other, gasping each other by the elbows or shoulders, and they make and lock eye contact.  One woman will lead by beginning to sing, and the other woman/women will imitate the tone, melodies, and rhythms sung by the lead.  The purpose of this game is believed to bring luck to the men hunting, ensuring they have a successful hunt.  This conclusion was reached because of the sounds the women make during the Katajjaq.  Their sounds are meant to mimic the sounds of nature, be it the howls of dogs, the breaking of ice, the soaring birds, etc.  This oral tradition, however, holds an additional purpose in that it is a type of storytelling wherein the singers pass on cultural knowledge and stories to the listeners. 

 

The Katajjaq is a carefree competitive but cooperative game wherein there is a winner and a loser, although there are very few consequences for the loser.  The game is lost when one of the women can no longer continue singing.  This may be because she ran out of breath or could not think of more sounds to make.  The loser indicates their loss by breaking into laughter, demonstrating the light hearted nature of the game. 

 

Despite the Katajjaq being prohibited when Christian missionaries began interacting with the Inuit this is a cultural tradition that continues on to this day.  Various Inuit musicians have been important in reviving and carrying on this tradition, as well as bringing it to the attention of outsiders.  As noted previously, traditionally the Katajjaq was a woman’s oral tradition, but Inuit men have adopted the practice, as well, as a means of cultural preservation and of sharing their cultural traditions with others.  As these musicians continue their work hopefully the tradition will not only continue but be a means of preserving and enriching Inuit culture.

 

Works Cited

D'Souza, Fred. "From Vocal Game to Protest Song: The Complexities of Katajjaq." SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal (2021): 53-61. Print.

Singh, Raj. HE PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE OF KATAJJAQ: CULTURE, IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE. Dissertation. Toronto: York University, 2022. Print.

Stévance, Sophie. "Analysis of the Inuit Katajjaq in Popular Culture: The Canadian Throat-Singer Superstar Tanya Tagaq." ITAMAR. REVISTA DE INVESTIGACIÓN MUSICAL: TERRITORIOS PARA EL ARTE (2010): 82-90. Print.