Music of Greenland
Encyclopedia
The music
of Greenland
is a mixture of two primary strands, Inuit
and Danish
, mixed with influences from the United States
and United Kingdom
. The biggest record label
is ULO
from the town of Sisimiut
; it was created by Malik Hoegh and Karsten Sommer. ULO releases both Greenlandic rock bands like Sume, pop
singers like Rasmus Lyberth and hip hop music
crews like Nuuk Posse
as well as Inuit folk music
. Elements of modern Greenlandic music have also been used in the music of Kristian Blak
, a Danish
/Faroese
jazz musician.
Greenland's musical character has been described as "definitely a rock country, both musically and literally" according to Greenlandic drummer Hans Rosenberg
. The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes all Greenlandic music except the drum dances as influenced by external styles.
, which declined greatly after the introduction of the South Greenland Printing Press in 1857.
Traditional music which has best survived European contact can be found in the east and northeast of the island. It includes sacred drum dances played on an oval drum made of a wooden frame with a bear
-bladder
on top. Drum dances are the "only truly indigenous music" in Greenland, and are part of a roots revival
in modern times. Shamans used drums as part of their religious
affairs and sometimes organized singing duels between rivals in which the performer who got the most laughs from the audience won. Inuit drum dances were a declining tradition and in modern Greenland are being replaced by amateur theater groups like Silamiut, who used elements of indigenous music with masks, face painting and other techniques.
Piseq are a form of personal song that comment on daily life; these are often handed down from generation to generation. Greenlandic Inuit folk songs are performed to tell stories, play games and tease or charm others.
of Greenland share a musical tradition with related peoples across the Canadian territories of the Yukon, Nunavut
and the Northwest Territories
, as well as the US state of Alaska
and part of eastern Russia
. Greenlandic Inuit are part of the Eastern Arctic group; the Eastern Arctic Inuit of Canada and Alaska are part of the same music area as the Central Arctic Inuit, as opposed to the distinct styles of the Western Inuit.
Greenlandic Inuit music is largely based around singing and drums, the latter being generally reserved for large celebrations and other gatherings. Though there is much folk vocal music, there is no Inuit purely instrumental tradition with no accompaniment by singing or dancing Greenlandic drums are mostly frame drums made of animal skin stretched over a wooden frame and decorated with decorative and symbolic motifs by the drummer. Aside from drums, whistle
s, bull-roarers
and buzzer
s are also widespread, and the jaw harp and fiddle
are both found, most likely recent imports.
Historical recordings of this music are done since 1905. This traditional Greenlandic music is performed also today.
Many drum dances are competitive in nature, featuring two song cousins who humorously sing and dance, while pointing out the flaws in the other. This is generally a light-hearted, convivial event, but is also sometimes used to settle serious duels between warring families or individuals; the jokes are prepared ahead of time and the person who evokes the most laughter from the audience is considered the victor.
and rhyme
s and riddle
s. The katajjaq tradition is also well-known; it is a vocal contest between two women, standing facing each other. They sing songs, using throat-singing
and imitating animal cries or other sounds
. Katajjaq is a game, but is often stopped because both women begin laughing.
In addition to the drum dance and game songs, Greenlandic Inuit have a tradition of piseq (piserk, personal song) songs. These are expressive, spiritual, superstitious or narrative and may be composed for drum dances. Piseq and other vocal traditions aside from song games include a number of styles and tones, which vary depending on the social context of the performance. For example, a soft vocal tone is used both for character illustration in a narrative song and for personal songs in private settings. Many songs use only a few real words, interspersed among numerous vocable
s, or non-lexical syllables like ai-ya-yainga. Inuit songs are strophic and mostly use six different pitches; textual and melodic motifs are common. A song's word length and accentuation determines the rhyhm, giving the songs a recitative
-like style.
, accordion
and Christian hymn
s, while Moravia
n missionaries
introduced violin
s, brass instrument
s and a tradition of purely instrumental music. The most influential Moravian importation, however, was the polyphonic choir, which has produced popular modern vocal groups like Mik
. Kalattuut (dansemik) is a long-stanting form of Inuit polka
, which produced popular songs and virtuosos like accordion
player Louis Andreasen. There is also a modern style called vaigat
, which is similar to country music
.
and in No Offence, a vocal band) has become well-known, and his work Shaman, which debuted at the 2004-5 Etoiles Polaires Arctic Culture Festival was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize
for its fusion of traditional Greenlandic music with modern styles and technology. The Nordic describes his work as "seeking to allow the traditional Greenlandic culture to be communicated through contemporary cultural language in such a way that respect for the original culture is preserved on the one hand yet passed on to a broader, contemporary audience on the other hand".
Greenland's national anthem
is "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit", which translates as Our Country, Who's Become So Old. It has been official since 1916, and was composed by Jonathan Petersen
with words by Henrik Lund
, both Greenlanders.
, has been one of the most successful groups of recent years. Other Greenlandic hip hop groups/artists have since then released albums. These artists include rappers such as Prussic, Peand-El, and Tomba. Their lyrics are more offensive and provocative than those of Nuuk Posse, criticizing the Greenlandic community for abandoning and neglecting their kids.
, performing in Greenlandic. Other local performers of note include G-60 and Ole Kristiansen. The 1980s saw Greenland become home to a number of bands inspired by Jamaican reggae
and African American funk
, like Aalut and Zikaza. Modern Greenland is home to the annual Nipiaa rock festival, held in Aasiaat
, and performers like Chilly Friday
, throat-singer
Sylvia Watt-Cloutier and Karina Moller.
Famous modern rock bands include Kalaat, Siissisoq
, Angu Motzfeldt, Pukuut, X-it , Fiassuit, Nanook
, Small Time Giants and UltimaCorsa
in Greenland is ULO
. Summertime festivals called aussivik have become an important part of modern Greenlandic culture, and are based on an older custom that was revived in the 20th century along with drum dances and other elements.
Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa
(Radio Greenland) is the most important media institution in the country. It is an independent body administered by the Government of Greenland.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
is a mixture of two primary strands, Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
and Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, mixed with influences from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The biggest record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
is ULO
Ülo
Ülo is an Estonian masculine given name.People named Ülo include:*Ülo Altermann , soldier and forest brother*Ülo Jõgi , war historian, nationalist and activist*Ülo Kaevats , statesman, academic, and philosopher...
from the town of Sisimiut
Sisimiut
Sisimiut is a town in central-western Greenland, located on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately north of Nuuk. It is the administrative center of the Qeqqata Municipality and the second-largest town in Greenland, with a population of 5,460 people as of 2010. The site of the present-day town...
; it was created by Malik Hoegh and Karsten Sommer. ULO releases both Greenlandic rock bands like Sume, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singers like Rasmus Lyberth and hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
crews like Nuuk Posse
Nuuk Posse
Nuuk Posse is a hip hop group from Greenland. The group, whose members are Inuit, formed in 1985 under a different name, finally taking the name Nuuk Posse in 1991...
as well as Inuit folk music
Inuit music
Traditional Inuit music, the music of the Inuit, has been based around drums used in dance music as far back as can be known, and a vocal style called katajjaq has become of interest in Canada and abroad....
. Elements of modern Greenlandic music have also been used in the music of Kristian Blak
Kristian Blak
Kristian Blak , originally from Fredericia, Denmark, lives in the Faroe Islands where he is a composer, musician, and record executive. He is the founder of the Nordic musical ensemble Yggdrasil ....
, a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
/Faroese
Faroese people
The Faroese or Faroe Islanders are a Germanic ethnic group native to the Faeroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins.About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway....
jazz musician.
Greenland's musical character has been described as "definitely a rock country, both musically and literally" according to Greenlandic drummer Hans Rosenberg
Hans Rosenberg
Hans Rosenberg, born February 26, 1904 in Hanover and died on June 26, 1988 in Freiburg, was a German refugee historian whose works influenced a whole generation of post-war German scholars.-Life:...
. The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes all Greenlandic music except the drum dances as influenced by external styles.
Folk music
The Inuit and the Danish peoples of Greenland have both maintained their distinct styles of folk music. Country-wide folk traditions included storytellingStorytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, which declined greatly after the introduction of the South Greenland Printing Press in 1857.
Traditional music which has best survived European contact can be found in the east and northeast of the island. It includes sacred drum dances played on an oval drum made of a wooden frame with a bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
-bladder
Urinary bladder
The urinary bladder is the organ that collects urine excreted by the kidneys before disposal by urination. A hollow muscular, and distensible organ, the bladder sits on the pelvic floor...
on top. Drum dances are the "only truly indigenous music" in Greenland, and are part of a roots revival
Roots revival
A roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.After an...
in modern times. Shamans used drums as part of their religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
affairs and sometimes organized singing duels between rivals in which the performer who got the most laughs from the audience won. Inuit drum dances were a declining tradition and in modern Greenland are being replaced by amateur theater groups like Silamiut, who used elements of indigenous music with masks, face painting and other techniques.
Piseq are a form of personal song that comment on daily life; these are often handed down from generation to generation. Greenlandic Inuit folk songs are performed to tell stories, play games and tease or charm others.
Inuit music
The InuitInuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
of Greenland share a musical tradition with related peoples across the Canadian territories of the Yukon, Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
and the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, as well as the US state of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and part of eastern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Greenlandic Inuit are part of the Eastern Arctic group; the Eastern Arctic Inuit of Canada and Alaska are part of the same music area as the Central Arctic Inuit, as opposed to the distinct styles of the Western Inuit.
Greenlandic Inuit music is largely based around singing and drums, the latter being generally reserved for large celebrations and other gatherings. Though there is much folk vocal music, there is no Inuit purely instrumental tradition with no accompaniment by singing or dancing Greenlandic drums are mostly frame drums made of animal skin stretched over a wooden frame and decorated with decorative and symbolic motifs by the drummer. Aside from drums, whistle
Whistle
A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
s, bull-roarers
Bullroarer (music)
The bullroarer, rhombus, or turndun, is an ancient ritual musical instrument and a device historically used for communicating over greatly-extended distances. It dates to the Paleolithic period, being found in Ukraine dating from 17,000 BC...
and buzzer
Buzzer
A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling device, which may be mechanical, electromechanical, or piezoelectric. Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices, timers and confirmation of user input such as a mouse click or keystroke....
s are also widespread, and the jaw harp and fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
are both found, most likely recent imports.
Historical recordings of this music are done since 1905. This traditional Greenlandic music is performed also today.
Drum dances
Greenlandic drum dances are, like the relatives found in Eastern and Central Canada, based around a single dancer who composes songs sung by his family while he dances, usually in a qaggi, a snow-house built just for community events such as the drum dance. The men's drum dancing skills are evaluated by his endurance in his lengthy performance and the nature of his compositions. Drum dances are an important element of Greenlandic Inuit cultural cohesion, and function as personal expression, pure entertainment and social sanction.Many drum dances are competitive in nature, featuring two song cousins who humorously sing and dance, while pointing out the flaws in the other. This is generally a light-hearted, convivial event, but is also sometimes used to settle serious duels between warring families or individuals; the jokes are prepared ahead of time and the person who evokes the most laughter from the audience is considered the victor.
Other Inuit folk song traditions
Many Inuit folk games revolve around song as well, including string games, hide-and-seek, jugglingJuggling
Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
and rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
s and riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
s. The katajjaq tradition is also well-known; it is a vocal contest between two women, standing facing each other. They sing songs, using throat-singing
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
and imitating animal cries or other sounds
Sound mimesis in various cultures
The imitation of natural sounds in various cultures is a diverse phenomenon and can fill in various functions. In several instances, it is related to the belief system...
. Katajjaq is a game, but is often stopped because both women begin laughing.
In addition to the drum dance and game songs, Greenlandic Inuit have a tradition of piseq (piserk, personal song) songs. These are expressive, spiritual, superstitious or narrative and may be composed for drum dances. Piseq and other vocal traditions aside from song games include a number of styles and tones, which vary depending on the social context of the performance. For example, a soft vocal tone is used both for character illustration in a narrative song and for personal songs in private settings. Many songs use only a few real words, interspersed among numerous vocable
Vocable
In speech, a vocable is an utterance, term, or word that is capable of being spoken and recognized. A non-lexical vocable is used without semantic role or meaning, while structure of vocables is often considered apart from any meaning...
s, or non-lexical syllables like ai-ya-yainga. Inuit songs are strophic and mostly use six different pitches; textual and melodic motifs are common. A song's word length and accentuation determines the rhyhm, giving the songs a recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
-like style.
European music
With the arrival of Danes, new instruments and forms of European-derived music became popular like the fiddleFiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and Christian hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s, while Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
n missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
introduced violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, brass instrument
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
s and a tradition of purely instrumental music. The most influential Moravian importation, however, was the polyphonic choir, which has produced popular modern vocal groups like Mik
MIK
MIK could refer to:* Methyl isopropyl ketone, a solvent* Micklefield railway station, England; National Rail station code MIK.* FC MiK Kaluga - * MIK Code page* Mikkeli Airport, Finland; IATA airport code MIK.* Multiple-indicator kriging...
. Kalattuut (dansemik) is a long-stanting form of Inuit polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, which produced popular songs and virtuosos like accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
player Louis Andreasen. There is also a modern style called vaigat
Vaigat
Vaigat may refer to a number of entities:* Sullorsuaq Strait* Country style within music of Greenland...
, which is similar to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
.
Classical music
Some composers of European classical music have Greenlandic themes in their music, including Poul Rovsing Olsen and Adrian Vernon Fish whose output includes over fifty works inspired by Greenland, its terrain, icescapes and music. Among his oeuvre are the four Greenland symphonies (numbers 3, 4, 10 and 13). The modern composer Mads Lumholdt (also member of the orchestra Northern Voices, singer in the orchestra NowherelandNowhereLand
Imagine That is a 2009 comedy-drama film starring Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church, Nicole Ari Parker, Martin Sheen, Marin Hinkle, and Yara Shahidi. Imagine That takes place in Denver, Colorado,...
and in No Offence, a vocal band) has become well-known, and his work Shaman, which debuted at the 2004-5 Etoiles Polaires Arctic Culture Festival was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize
Nordic Council Music Prize
The Nordic Council Music Prize is awarded annually by NOMUS, the Nordic Music Committee. Every two years it is awarded for a work by a living composer...
for its fusion of traditional Greenlandic music with modern styles and technology. The Nordic describes his work as "seeking to allow the traditional Greenlandic culture to be communicated through contemporary cultural language in such a way that respect for the original culture is preserved on the one hand yet passed on to a broader, contemporary audience on the other hand".
Greenland's national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
is "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit", which translates as Our Country, Who's Become So Old. It has been official since 1916, and was composed by Jonathan Petersen
Jonathan Petersen
Jonathan Petersen was a Greenlandic songwriter. He composed the music to the national anthem of Greenland, Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit . The lyrics were written by the Greenlandic pastor Henrik Lund, and the song was adopted as the national anthem in 1916.-References:...
with words by Henrik Lund
Henrik Lund
Henning Jakob Henrik Lund or Intel'eraq was a Greenlandic lyricist, painter and priest. He wrote the lyrics to "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit,"in the indigenous Greenlandic language, an Eskimo–Aleut language...
, both Greenlanders.
Popular music
Greenland was isolated from modern North American and European popular music until well into the mid-20th century. Early popular groups included the pioneering local Nuuk Orleans Jazz Band.Hip hop
Since 1984, American hip hop has had a major influence, and a hip hop crew, Nuuk PosseNuuk Posse
Nuuk Posse is a hip hop group from Greenland. The group, whose members are Inuit, formed in 1985 under a different name, finally taking the name Nuuk Posse in 1991...
, has been one of the most successful groups of recent years. Other Greenlandic hip hop groups/artists have since then released albums. These artists include rappers such as Prussic, Peand-El, and Tomba. Their lyrics are more offensive and provocative than those of Nuuk Posse, criticizing the Greenlandic community for abandoning and neglecting their kids.
Rock
The Greenlandic rock and pop began in earnest in 1973, when ULO released the band Sume's Sumut; it was purchased by an estimated twenty percent of Greenland's total population, and singlehandedly kickstarted the local rock scene by uniquely singing in the Greenlandic language and using elements of traditional drum dances in the music. The singer Rasmus Lyberth did the most to change Greenlandic music by performing for simple entertainment rather than functionality; indeed, he took part in the Danish preselection for the 1979 Eurovision Song ContestEurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
, performing in Greenlandic. Other local performers of note include G-60 and Ole Kristiansen. The 1980s saw Greenland become home to a number of bands inspired by Jamaican reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and African American funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, like Aalut and Zikaza. Modern Greenland is home to the annual Nipiaa rock festival, held in Aasiaat
Aasiaat
Aasiaat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland. Located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,005 as of 2010, it is Greenland's fifth-largest town.-Etymology:...
, and performers like Chilly Friday
Chilly Friday
-Origins:Formed on a Friday in 2000, and deriving their name thereof, the band originates from Nuuk, and is arguably the most successful Greenlandic rock orchestra to date. Presently the band is located in Copenhagen, mostly due to logistical reasons...
, throat-singer
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
Sylvia Watt-Cloutier and Karina Moller.
Famous modern rock bands include Kalaat, Siissisoq
Siissisoq
Siissisoq is a Greenlandic hard rock band, formed in 1998 in Uummannaq. They have released their first album, Aammarpassuillu, in 1998, and it stayed number one on Greenlandic charts for two months. Siissisoq means Rhino in Greenlandic. The lyrics are sung in Greenlandic and deal mainly with...
, Angu Motzfeldt, Pukuut, X-it , Fiassuit, Nanook
Nanook
In Inuit mythology, Nanook or Nanuq , which is from the Inuit language for polar bear, was the master of bears, meaning he decided if hunters had followed all applicable taboos and if they deserved success in hunting bears....
, Small Time Giants and UltimaCorsa
Music industry
The largest record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in Greenland is ULO
Ülo
Ülo is an Estonian masculine given name.People named Ülo include:*Ülo Altermann , soldier and forest brother*Ülo Jõgi , war historian, nationalist and activist*Ülo Kaevats , statesman, academic, and philosopher...
. Summertime festivals called aussivik have become an important part of modern Greenlandic culture, and are based on an older custom that was revived in the 20th century along with drum dances and other elements.
Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa
Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa
Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa is the national public broadcasting corporation of Greenland, based in the country's capital city, Nuuk....
(Radio Greenland) is the most important media institution in the country. It is an independent body administered by the Government of Greenland.
External links
- transcription and translation of the national anthem