Inuktitut

But first, why don't we hear some music from the soundtrack to North of North.

This is Elisipi and her cover of the Rolling Stones song Wild Horses in Inuktitut.

This is Kimia.

Now you're mine.

I'm like, well, there's a lot of Indigenous folks here.

Actually, Ottawa, Ontario has one of the highest populations of Inuit across Canada because a lot of Inuit and Indigenous people up in Inuktitut, they come down for medical and some of them stay.

So we have a huge Inuit population and we also have a huge First Nation population because when First Nations leave the reserve and go into government, a lot of them come to Ottawa.

So we have huge government organizations as well.

Yeah.

I did, you know, seven seasons of an all Inuktitut language comedy show that aired on APTN, and every season of that show, we were trying to think bigger-

Yeah

... learn more, do more.

I'm joined by two incredible Inuit filmmakers who have been who together are reshaping how the world sees the North.

Stacey Agluk-McDonald is a writer and producer originally from Kgluktuk Nunavut, known for creating the beloved Inuktitut language series APTN, Kornali, along with her work on The Grizzlies, Throat Song, and Slashback.

And Alethea Arnouk Burrell is an acclaimed filmmaker from the Canadian Arctic whose documentaries Tunit and Angry Inuk earned international acclaim, including the meritorious services crossed from the Governor General of Canada.

In 2019, these two joined forces to launch Red Merrill Media, and together they created North of North, the APTN, CBC, and Netflix series that has become a global breakout, now headed into its second season.

And there are a lot of Inuit from away, from different communities that live there now to work at the government, but also a lot of non-Inuit in town.

It's almost like half-half now, which was not the case when I was growing up.

When I grew up, it was very... small, mostly Inuktitut language spoken.

I grew up with my parents, but I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's house.

So non-fluently, certainly I gained, you know, a considerable knowledge of Sami vocabulary through my work.

And I've also studied, you know, as much as to the extent that is possible, kind of in my context, Algonquin as well, you know, a handful of Inuktitut phrases where I spent, you know, just a bit of time up in the Arctic as well.

But, you know, for It's a bit of an interesting situation for non-Indigenous folks such as myself.

I'm English-Canadian.

Denislein, there's one.

Inuainum, that's another one.

Inuktitut North Baffin.

Mishif Cree, Mikma, Oji Cree, and Plains Cree.

No speak English.

Inuktitut.

[gong crashes]

I declare, by my frenetic soul, I must be over the magnetic pole.

Yeah.

I did, you know, seven seasons of an all Inuktitut language comedy show that aired on APTN, and every season of that show we were trying to think bigger, learn more, do more.

And so when Qanurli ended, that feeling didn't end of, "Okay, now what? M- what's next? What, what's, what's bigger? How can I take what everything that I've learned and go further?" And y- you know, Alethea, Miranda, and I, we made The Grizzlies together.

Mm.

And because North of North has blown up on Netflix, its music has, too.

The show's Inuktitut cover of Dua Lipa's Levitating is all over TikTok.

[singing]

The soundtrack's praise isn't lost on the show's co-creator and executive producer Stacey Aglok MacDonald.

[singing]

Music supervisor Michael Pearlmutter says every track has intent.

The soundtrack mixes pop, rock and throat singing, and Inuktitut covers of popular songs like Ave Maria and Time After Time.

Music is a universal language, and people don't speak the language that they're singing, but they can feel the emotion and they can feel the energy and they can feel the passion.