Tarniriik

About

When you hear Tarniriik, you can’t believe these two young girls are creating an astonishing array of sounds with only their voices, breathing life into a centuries-old Inuit throat-singing technique known as katajjaq. Manipulating their mouth and larynx, 12-year-old Samantha Piujuq Kigutaq and 11-year-old Cailyn Nanauq DeGrandpre produce two different tones: a huffing, lower foundation and a whistling, higher melody. The result is mesmerizing.

Though Tarniriik is based in Ottawa, the Inuit originated along the Arctic Sea. When men would depart on long hunting trips, women and children entertained themselves by competing in a throat-singing game. Two singers stand face to face, grasping each other’s arms, and engage in a friendly competition as one takes the lead and the other follows. During the playful exchange, the voiced sounds and breath of each singer combine to form rhythmic melodies that imitate sounds from nature, and the singer who stops or laughs first loses the competition. This two-tone singing tradition is practiced almost exclusively by women. In 2014, Québec designated katajjaq as its first recognized example of intangible cultural heritage.

Samantha and Cailyn met during after-school throat-singing classes at the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre. Fast friends, they began performing together, becoming an Internet sensation in Canada after demonstrating Inuit throat-singing during Justin Trudeau’s swearing-in ceremony as Canadian prime minster. They now perform as Tarniriik, the Inuit word for “two souls.”

“It was pretty scary at first,” confesses Kigutaq, who lost the first round in front of Prime Minister Trudeau, “but as soon as I realized that my best friend was with me I wasn’t really nervous…. I just go with the flow and I can barely hear Cailyn, so it makes it that much easier to throat sing.”

Despite the recent attention, the two young girls remain focused on carrying on the tradition. “When we throat sing,” says Cailyn, “I like how we’re bringing our culture back and up.”