The Canadian Inuits incorporate music and dance into their daily life in many ways. Music is perhaps, one of the most important, if not THE most important, aspect of the Inuit culture. They use it to celebrate, to grief, and to remember loved ones who have long passed away. They have special dances that distinguish what they are celebrating for, such as the drum dance, and others.
They have ways of singing that have originated from their culture such as throatsinging.
Throatsinging is exclusively performed by women because they tend to have the "better: voices for this task. It can require many months, even years to perfect the distinctive sound that is throatsinging. Two women stand in pairs, facing one another. The first woman makes noises in her throat to start the beat, while the other one creates the melody. Most beats imitate nature such as flowing water or animal sounds which shows their connectivity to nature and the spiritual world.
Their main form of dancing is called drumdancing. Drumdancing is composed of men holding and striking drums on the side which creates a sort of swaying motion which is the basis of the dance. Behind these men with the drums, are usually a group of singers, but there doesn't always have to be singers involved. This type of dance was associated with nearly all of the celebrations they had from a hunting celebration, to a wedding celebration. Drumdancing was also performed in some rituals.
As we can see, the Canadian Inuits love their music, but also don't neglect the dance aspect of their culture. They celebrate just about everything with either a song or a dance to delegate it's importance. If other cultures adopted this way of life, many may find that it's a great way to relieve tension within a culture. The Canadian Inuits have lived this way for many centuries, and have proved that they have evolved to survive in their situation.
Source:
They have ways of singing that have originated from their culture such as throatsinging.
Throatsinging is exclusively performed by women because they tend to have the "better: voices for this task. It can require many months, even years to perfect the distinctive sound that is throatsinging. Two women stand in pairs, facing one another. The first woman makes noises in her throat to start the beat, while the other one creates the melody. Most beats imitate nature such as flowing water or animal sounds which shows their connectivity to nature and the spiritual world.
Their main form of dancing is called drumdancing. Drumdancing is composed of men holding and striking drums on the side which creates a sort of swaying motion which is the basis of the dance. Behind these men with the drums, are usually a group of singers, but there doesn't always have to be singers involved. This type of dance was associated with nearly all of the celebrations they had from a hunting celebration, to a wedding celebration. Drumdancing was also performed in some rituals.
As we can see, the Canadian Inuits love their music, but also don't neglect the dance aspect of their culture. They celebrate just about everything with either a song or a dance to delegate it's importance. If other cultures adopted this way of life, many may find that it's a great way to relieve tension within a culture. The Canadian Inuits have lived this way for many centuries, and have proved that they have evolved to survive in their situation.
Source:
Anon. 2016. “Inuit Art Alive — Music.” Inuit Art Alive — Music. Retrieved December 6, 2016 (http://www.inuitartalive.ca/index_e.php?p=126).
I thought it was interesting to learn about the type of music and dance that the Canadian Inuits involve themselves in. hey have appreciated music and dance so much, that they have dances named after them and musical instruments such as drums. These people love to incorporate music into anything that has any type of meaning to them. This shows just how important music is to these people.
ReplyDeleteAlso found it interesting how these people dance and how fast and upbeat the tempo is. This type of music reminds me of Spanish music the way the beat is so up tempo and the way their bodies move and how they are always grouped in pairs when they dance. I also thought it was intriguing that only the men were allowed to drum. Women were not allowed to do so until fairly recently because of traditions in the Inuit culture.
Although it's great to have music mean such an important thing in a culture, it can also lead to something that is the eventual downfall of the culture. If they move from Canada to somewhere in the US let's say, we obviously don't value music and dance as much as they do, so it may make it harder for them to adjust to our way of living. They may end up having to move back to Canada because the change is just to much for them to handle in a way.