Throat singing, a symbol of an Inuit culture that is trying to come back to life

Published on : 06/18/2021 – 03:13 PM

European settlers and missionaries banned throat singing so much that it was only known to a few women. Shina Novalinga learned it from her mother, a professional singer, and regularly films herself practicing this vocal game, usually bringing together two women. Singing consists of responding to each other until one of them no longer follows. Sure his TikTok account, one of his videos with his mother has more than 15 million views.

The young woman also publishes videos to raise awareness of other aspects of Inuit culture such as hunting, or to explain the history of the Inuit in Canada, the violence committed against them, especially women, including more than 1200 disappeared or were killed between 1980 and 2012.

>> SEE ON OBSERVERS : In the daily life of an Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic

AT Radio Canada, the influencer explains: “Many people I meet do not know that in their province, there are Inuit as well as a culture and a reality that is still very much alive and different from theirs”.

She talks about her approach in our show, in the video at the top of this page.

“I think it’s really, really important to use these platforms to finally speak out loud and encourage young people to love themselves as they are,” says Shina Novalinga. “And posting on social networks is a good way to raise awareness and help our youth to feel included. It’s something we haven’t done until then.”

On TikTok, other influencers around the world are trying to raise awareness about their respective cultures, and the keyword “indigineous” has over 2.6 billion views.