Our next spotlight is on number 2 from The List, submitted by MetalheadDana.
Tanya Tagaq is a woman of immense talent. She’s the bestselling author of Split Tooth, a stunning piece of fiction/memoir set in 1970s Nunavut, written in both poetry and prose. Her English/Inuktitut picture book for children, It Bears Repeating, is set to come out in August this year. She’s an activist and overall exceptional human being, not afraid to speak her mind and call people, corporations, and governments out for the crimes they have committed against her people, others, and the environment. She co-directed and -wrote the documentary Ever Deadly, about her own life and career. And, more recently, she’s an actor, appearing in season 4 of True Detective, which she also provided the soundtrack for.
Which brings us to what she’s most known for, and why we’re here. Tanya Tagaq – often performing under the name “Tagaq” – is an award-winning experimental musician and composer, combining Inuit throat singing with improvisational vocals and various backdrops such as avant-garde classical violin, jazz, electronic beats, or nothing else at all. She’s collaborated with artists such as the Kronos Quartet, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Björk. While she often performs at folk festivals, Tagaq’s music is truly the most metal thing you could possibly hear.
The first I heard Tagaq’s voice was on the first track of Björk’s 2004 vocal album and utter masterpiece, Medúlla. From day 1, Medúlla was instantly my favorite Björk album, not in small part due to Tagaq’s incredible guest vocals (especially on the track “Ancestors”, which reappears on Tagaq’s first LP, the 2005 Sinaa, co-produced by Björk). It would be nearly 10 years before we (myself and MetalheadDana) finally got to see Tagaq live, in an old movie theatre, improvising a soundtrack to the 1922 silent film Nanook of the North with the film playing on the screen behind. There we picked up copies of Sinaa and the 2008 Aux / Blood (or ᐊᐅᒃ, in Inuktitut syllabics). We got to chat with her for a few minutes while she signed our CDs, and she was giddy to mention that she was thinking about doing some covers for future albums, Pixies’ “Caribou” and possibly also some Iron Maiden. Soon after that performance, she released the 2014 Animism (which we’ll come back to another day since it also appears on The List).
While I typically listen to Tagaq’s later work, going back to Aux / Blood, I think this is perhaps her most accessible album in her discography. If you’re not familiar with Tagaq’s gripping music and/or Inuit throat singing in general, this is a great introduction. Fans of Faith No More will be happy to pick out Mike Patton’s guest vocals on the album. And, for Canadian folks from Edmonton/Calgary/Vancouver, make sure you check out “Force”, “Burst”, and “Construction”, which feature the brilliant beat-boxer Shamik (also of Too Attached, Shamik’s duo with his sister – another woman of immense talent – Vivek Shraya; the duo has also performed alongside Tagaq).
The latest post on my website that went up this morning covered our look at the Icelandic Punk Museum in Reykjavík so my background music while working today has featured a load of Icelandic punk and avant-garde artists.
Before the solo career, and before the Sugarcubes, one of the earlier bands that Björk was in was called K.U.K.L. so here, why not treat your eyes and ears to some of her earlier madness?
Mm... ich hab lang nicht mehr so was Langweiliges erlebt. Sitzkonzert. 1/2 der Sitze 90° quer zur Bühne. Der Sound meines Proberaums kombiniert mit Winamp-Visuals. Björk hat sich möglicherweise echt Mühe gegeben, aber bei mir kam nur digitale Unlebendigkeit an.
Wagenreihung komplett umgedreht, großes Gerenne allerseits. 🦘🦘🦘🦘🦘🙈
Aber immerhin ich sitze, es ist warm und trocken und es rollt. Und alle tragen Masken.
Das letzte war natürlich Sarkasmus. 😷 #Björk#Leipzig#DB
Es sind nicht nur Journalisten, sondern auch Künstler:innen, die sich von Realitätsfälschungen einfangen lassen. Björk veröffentlichte die obere Zeile dieses Bildes mit dem Kommentar "is this what you calling sharing" und bedient damit den Mythos des Freiheitskampfs des besetzten Palästinas, eines Palästinas, das noch nie existiert hat. #Israel#Palästina#Hamas#Gaza
1/x
So far, they have fired 8,500 rockets from Gaza into Israel. They fired from the roofs of residential buildings, hospitals, schools and kindergartens. They screamed, "bomb us to smithereens, kill our women and children, who will deliver the most dramatic picture of a grieving mother, a desperate father, a dead baby, a destroyed hospital, a desert of rubble.
24/x
The Hamas leadership is now in Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey and Iran. Only fanatical idiots are still in Gaza and indoctrinated civilians who have been brought up to hate Jews for years.
26/x
I come from Germany. In 1945, Dresden, Hamburg, Berlin and all the big cities of Greater Germany burned. They bombed National Socialism out of the Germans. They could have been more humanitarian.
27/x #Israel#Palästina#Hamas#Gaza#bjork
They advanced as far as my home town of Aschaffenburg. The local Nazis could have simply given up, but they ordered the "Fortress Aschaffenburg" to be defended to the last man and then fled the city. The Americans shied away from a humanitarian solution and a battle of houses with heavy losses and turned the city into a field of rubble.
28/x #Israel#Palästina#Hamas#Gaza#bjork
Are you calling for an independent Palestine? Are you calling for a humanitarian approach?
It would be very simple: release the hostages, renounce Hamas, hand over the murderers, who this time ONLY killed 1500 Jews, the kidnappers, the operators of the launching pads, the people behind them to Israel or, if you like, to an international jurisdiction and the war would be over.
30/x #Israel#Palästina#Hamas#Gaza#bjork
They won't do it, Nazi Germany didn't hand over Hitler and his helpers either. Hamas sacrifices civilians, men, women and children to their racial hatred. They could have turned Gaza into the most beautiful vacation resort in the Mediterranean, where all Palestinians living there could have made a good living. Instead, they have turned it into a fortress and the population into paupers of the world. There will be no free Palestine, Hamas has destroyed that chance.
31/x #Hamas#Gaza#bjork
My heart burns for every child, every mother, every father in Gaza who is losing loved ones, their homes, friends, their future and hope. I am horrified by the cruelty of war and hope that Israel is and can be more merciful to Gaza than the Allies.
32/x
My abhorrence belongs to the leadership of Hamas, the religious fascists and murderers in Iran and all the autocrats and religious extremists of the world who would rather see the world burn and thousands suffer than renounce their delusions of domination.
33/x #Israel#Palästina#Hamas#Gaza#bjork