WEBVTT

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[MUSIC]

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KATHY: It has more green.

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KARIN: Yours has more green.

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KATHY: Mine's black. With stripes of black. Yours has more green.

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KARIN: My name is Karin Kettler,

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and I'm an Inuit singer and drum dancer.

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KATHY: My name is Kathy Kettler,

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and I'm an Inuit throat singer and drum dancer.

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[MUSIC]

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KARIN: Is that hard enough?

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KATHY: Yeah, that's good.

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KATHY: We are in Anchorage, Alaska.

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We are here to perform at

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the Circumpolar Music Festival at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

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This music festival is an opportunity for

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groups from around the Circumpolar region to come and share their music,

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and we're really honored to be amongst the people that are here.

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KATHY: The sounds that we're gonna be making is

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[NOISE]

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You have to make sure that you're breathing out as much as you're breathing in,

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or else you might get lightheaded.

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[MUSIC]

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Inuit throat singing is a friendly competition between girls.

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It was something that they would do while the men were out hunting.

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[MUSIC]

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We do imitations of the sounds that we hear around us,

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like animals and tools in nature.

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KARIN: It's the same sound,

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but only a half second off from each other,

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and that's how we can blend our voices. Throat singing comes from our voice,

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our throat, and our breathing.

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Breath.

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KATHY: Okay.

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[LAUGHTER].

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[MUSIC]

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KARIN: I really enjoy throat singing.

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It is part of the culture that we're from, Inuit culture.

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It is very unique in the sense that there are

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no other cultures in Canada that do this sort of singing.

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KATHY: I am looking for two volunteers.

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KARIN: It's very important to pass along throat singing.

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It is a very oral tradition.

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It can't be written down.

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It has to be learned from someone else.

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KATHY: Throat singing is a strength for our people, for the Inuit people,

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and being able to learn it and be proficient at it

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and pass it on to others is a really great gift to have and give.

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[MUSIC]

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[APPLAUSE]

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KARIN: That's it?

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KATHY: Yeah.

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[MUSIC]