Great Northern Arts Festival

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Single Drummer

I did not get as many photos of this festival as I wanted to, but I did get many videos of the drummers!
This was the 19th Great Northern Arts festival held in Inuvik, NWT. This is a world class event that showcases the north, northernart and artists to the world! The festival brings people together to celebrate the art and to pass on their individual skills and traditions.

There is a gallery set up with hundreds of works of art from a limited number of artists and events are held throughout the week.

Sue, Jolie and I attended the opening ceremony for the festival last friday. We arrived at the end of the speechs but we were just in time to see the Inuvik drummers and dancers perform (videos). The WHALEBONE was also brought in during the ceremony. The story goes that years ago, Ike Angotautuk of Hall Beach, Nunavut, taught a whalebone carving workshop at the festival and the resulting carving became a fixture in the gallery ever since. In 1997 they began carrying the whalebone into the gallery to signal the official openingof the great canadian arts festival. Each year two artists from the opposite corners of the North are chosen to carry the whalebone into the gallery. At the end of the festival the whalebone is carried out to complete the circle for another year!

Saturday night we all checked out "The old time dance" featuring James Rogers and his good time band. Gooooood fiddl'in! Lots of two step and jiggin.

There were a number of northern movies featured throughout the week but I didnt manage to make it to any of them because I was busy in the lab, gym or poooooool😊

Friday night (july 27) I went to the Big River Concert with Zoey, Christine and Dan. The performers were really good. The lineup included, Kim Barlow, Pat Braden, The inuvik drummers and dancers, James Rogers and the goodtime band and Randy Sibbeston. After this we all went out to the trapper pub. Some guy bought us all beers (second full beer ever!) and we did some dancing.

Saturday I went out canoing down the river with our neighbors and then went to the fashion show! Northern Fashion... plenty of seal skin😞

Check out the drummer video I attached it is pretty amazing.

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