Aasiva: “Niriunniq”
Aasiva (Colleen Nakashuk) is a young Inuktitut singer and songwriter from Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), Nunavut, Canada. She was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Folk Album at the 2019 Indigenous Music Awards. Aasiva is multi-talented as she not only is able to write songs, sing, throat sing, but also plays a wide range of instruments, which include the ukulele, fiddle, guitar, accordion, and piano. All of her songs are in Inuktitut and uses traditional techniques such as Inuit throat singing to help preserve the artform of traditional Inuit music.
Niriunniq (‘Hope’ in English), her second full-length record, embodies and explores the concept of how to maintain hope even when you are struggling through immense grief and loneliness. In 2019, Aasiva’s mother suddenly passed away and while there was a period in which she stopped creating music, she ultimately turned back to it as a coping mechanism. The first song she wrote for this record was Ungalirakki (‘I miss you’ in English) to honor her late mother. In this same record, she created ‘Piqatiikka’ (‘My Friends’ in English) an electro-slow dance that celebrates the survival of community and culture from colonization, as well as the daily ways in which she and her community support each other.
While Aasiva’s work has folk, pop, and indie elements, she does not limit her work by defining it in any of these genres, and instead believes her work to be contemporary/modern Inuit music. She was inspired by many influences including Riit, Beatrice Deer, and Elisapie Isaac, as they showed her that an Inuit woman can struggle through many obstacles and still be successful. She even chose to use her middle name Aasiva as her performer name to identify herself as Inuit to both her listeners and other fellow musicians.
In addition to creating her own music, Aasiva teaches songs, instruments, and traditional techniques such as throat-singing to children in schools and festivals throughout Nunavut. These musical education efforts are to further preserve Inuit culture.
Sources:
Inuit Art Foundation. (n.d.). Aasiva. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Aasiva-
Killer Beat Music. (n.d.). Aasiva – Niriunniq. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://www.killbeatmusic.com/aasiva
Following the link you provided, I listened to “Ungalirakki ” while I read through this post. While listening to this song, I was struck by the emotional and powerful response that I felt. This song felt very personal and vulnerable; It felt raw and honest. I was impressed by her vocal abilities, her throat sounds, and the overall construction of this song; It sounds like a beautiful serenade. In the context of the information provided within this post, I am impressed by Asivia as an artist. Her ability to incorporate many instruments as well as traditional components of Inuit music in combination with telling compelling stories of her struggles makes her style particularly impactful. Similar to my artist, Rasmus Lyberth, I admire her desire to preserve traditional Inuit music, and appreciate her modern approach to this type of music. I am happy to have found this artist, and believe she is an important part of preserving Inuit traditional music.