Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 7:30 pm
With Tanya Tagaq, ancient meets modern in provocative, powerful ways. This spellbinding performance features the Inuit throat singer accompanying a screening of “Nanook of the North” (1922) with a live score. Her mixed-media performance reclaims the controversial classic — considered the first feature-length documentary — capturing the sense of the sound of the Arctic spaces shown in the film and adding tremendous feeling and depth to the complex mix of beautiful representations and racially charged clichés. An Inuit throat singer from Nunavut, Canada, Tanya Tagaq has a voice capable of full-bodied and animalistic low s, and breathtaking grunts and growls. She is an outspoken advocate of aboriginal rights and equality, weaving her musical and political tones into emotive, sensual, and complex compositions and improvisations that raise a fist of protest with no words at all. University Musical Society
Reviews:
Tagaq’s music is unnerving and exquisite, rooted in Inuit throat singing, but also influenced by electronica, industrial, and metal. It is a style that she has perfected through collaborations with Björk and that invokes Meredith Monk’s vocal innovations. Winner of the 2014 Polaris Prize for “Album of the Year” (she beat out Drake and Arcade Fire), Tanya Tagaq makes her UMS debut in this one-night only event after acclaimed appearances at the Bonnaroo and SXSW festivals. “Nobody, anywhere, sounds like she does.” (Globe and Mail)
Learn more at: http://ums.org/performance/tanya-tagaq/
Tune In with UMS for a brief pre-performance talk. Just 15 minutes long, this Tune In will offer interesting information and provocative questions for thinking about, listening to, and watching the performance. Tuesday, February 2, 7 pm at Michigan League Henderson Room (3rd floor).