Inuit throat-singing sisters from Canada

[MUSIC]

KATHY: It has more green.

KARIN: Yours has more green.

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

KARIN: My name is Karin Kettler,

and I'm an Inuit singer and drum dancer.

KATHY: My name is Kathy Kettler,

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

[MUSIC]

KARIN: Is that hard enough?

KATHY: Yeah, that's good.

KATHY: We are in Anchorage, Alaska.

We are here to perform at

the Circumpolar Music Festival at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

This music festival is an opportunity for

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

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

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

[NOISE]

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

or else you might get lightheaded.

[MUSIC]

Inuit throat singing is a friendly competition between girls.

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

[MUSIC]

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

like animals and tools in nature.

KARIN: It's the same sound,

but only a half second off from each other,

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

our throat, and our breathing.

Breath.

KATHY: Okay.

[LAUGHTER].

[MUSIC]

KARIN: I really enjoy throat singing.

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

It is very unique in the sense that there are

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

KATHY: I am looking for two volunteers.

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

It is a very oral tradition.

It can't be written down.

It has to be learned from someone else.

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

and being able to learn it and be proficient at it

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

[MUSIC]

[APPLAUSE]

KARIN: That's it?

KATHY: Yeah.

[MUSIC]