Two days prior to the release of her much anticipated new album, Inuktitut, Elisapie presents Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free), a gripping Queen cover translated into her native language. Inuktitut is out this Friday, September 15th, via Bonsound on physical (vinyl, CD) and digital formats. Since the announcement of her new album, Elisapie has been featured in Vogue, Rolling Stone, Globe and Mail and many more.
Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free) is available on all music services.
Pre-order/pre-save Inuktitut on vinyl, CD or digital format.
Like all the other songs on Inuktitut, Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free) pays tribute to a special person in Elisapie's life, evoking memories of her youth in Salluit, Nunavik. This time she dedicates the track to her cousin Tayara, with whom she grew up:
Tayara was a little older than me. He was quiet, handsome, graceful and he loved music. He was named after our great-grandfather, a remarkable and gentle man. Tayara never found his place and never lived life to its fullest. Sadly, like too many Inuit teenagers and many of my cousins, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the tiny closet of his house, right next door to mine.
When I Want to Break Free played on the radio, something magical happened. The lyrics resonated with him, allowing him to embrace his differences and marginality with pride. It was our song. When we danced to it, he shared his inner world with me, with all its complexities and desires. Through this music, he showed me how to be punk, wild and fierce. He was my best friend. When I sing it now, it's a way of saying goodbye. Despite all its strength and power, it's the saddest song in the world.
For her new music video, Elisapie called upon Philippe Léonard, who also directed the videos for Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass), Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time), Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven) and Qimmijuat (Wild Horses). This time, he presents a visual narrative that invites people to break free from social norms and express their desire for freedom through dancing. We see Simik Komaksiutiksak, a contemporary dancer who energizes members of the community through his gestures and the light he projects on them, explains the director. In turn, he feeds on the movement of others, and a conversation takes shape as the video unfolds. It's an invitation to dance, to let off steam.
Watch and share the music video for Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free) via YouTube.
Inuktitut is Elisapie’s fourth solo album. With these 10 covers of classic rock and pop songs from the 60s to the 90s, she reinvigorates their poetry thanks to the raw sounds of the thousand-year-old Inuit language and gives each track a unique and deeply personal quality. Every song from the album, produced by her close collaborator Joe Grass, is linked to a loved one or an intimate story that has shaped the person Elisapie is today. Through this act of cultural reappropriation, she tells her story and offers these songs as a gift to her community, making her language and culture resonate beyond the borders of the Inuit territory.
Elisapie will be presenting her new album in concert on a tour of over 50 dates that will take her across Quebec, as well as to Paris, Toronto and Los Angeles. In addition to this tour, there will be five performances of Uvattini, a special live show presented exclusively at Usine C and the Grand Théâtre de Québec in December. Although all the performances of Uvattini in Montreal are sold out, you can still get tickets for December 20th in Quebec City. For full tour details, see the list below or visit elisapie.com.
About Elisapie
Elisapie's unconditional attachment to her territory and her language, Inuktitut, remains at the core of her creative journey. Born and raised in Salluit, a small village in Nunavik which is only accessible by plane, Elisapie is an emblematic Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter. Since winning her first Juno Award in 2005 with her band Taima, Elisapie’s body of work has been praised many times. Her 2018 album The Ballad of the Runaway Girl was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, and earned her numerous Félix Awards as well as a Juno nomination. Since then, the Inuk artist performed with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal at the invitation of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, at the SummerStage Festival in New York City’s Central Park, and at the NPR offices for her own Tiny Desk Session, as well as at several local and international venues and festivals. Always surrounded by the best musicians from the Montreal indie and folk scenes, Elisapie makes her culture resonate with finesse by mixing modernity and tradition.
Tour Dates
10/06/2023 - Val-Morin, QC - Théâtre du Marais - SOLD OUT
11/07/2023 - Château Arnoux, FR - Théâtre Durance - SOLD OUT
11/09/2023 - Saint-Malo, FR - La Nouvelle Vague
11/10/2023 - Brest, FR - Cabaret Vauban
11/16/2023 - Nantes, FR - Trempo
12/07/2023 - Montreal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
12/08/2023 - Montreal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
12/09/2023 - Montreal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
12/20/2023 - Quebec, QC - Salle Louis-Fréchette - Grand Théâtre de Québec
12/21/2023 - Quebec, QC - Salle Louis-Fréchette - Grand Théâtre de Québec - SOLD OUT
01/18/2024 - Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC - Salle Albert-Dumouchel
01/19/2024 - Brossard, QC - Le Club DIX30
01/20/2024 - Sherbrooke, QC - Théâtre Granada
01/24/2024 - Joliette, QC - Centre culturel Desjardins
01/25/2024 - Gatineau, QC - Salle Jean-Despréz - SOLD OUT
01/26/2024 - Chambly, QC - Pôle culturel de Chambly
01/27/2024 - Châteauguay, QC - Pavillon de l'Île
01/31/2024 - Longueuil, QC - Théâtre de la Ville - Salle Pratt & Whitney Canada
02/01/2024 - Mont-Laurier, QC - Espace Théâtre Muni-Spec
02/02/2024 - Saint-Jérôme, QC - Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault
02/07/2024 - Drummondville, QC - Maison des arts Desjardins
02/08/2024 - Victoriaville, QC - Carré 150 - Cabaret Guy-Aubert
02/09/2024 - Sorel-Tracy, QC - Salle Georges-Codling
02/10/2024 - Waterloo, QC - Maison de la culture de Waterloo - SOLD OUT
02/15/2024 - Saint-Eustache, QC - Le Zénith Promutuel Assurance
02/16/2024 - Mont-Tremblant, QC - L'Église du Village
02/17/2024 - Sainte-Geneviève, QC - Salle Pauline-Julien
02/22/2024 - Repentigny, QC - Théâtre Alphonse-Desjardins
02/23/2024 - Shawinigan, QC - Salle Philippe-Filion
02/24/2024 - Laval, QC - Salle André-Mathieu
03/01/2024 - Lévis, QC - L'Anglicane
03/02/2024 - Thetford-Mines, QC - Le Vitrail
03/27/2024 - Ottawa, ON - Studio Azrieli - Centre National des Arts
03/28/2024 - Toronto, ON - TD Music Hall
04/03/2024 - Grenoble, FR - Centre culturel L'Ilyade (Festival Détours de Babel)
04/04/2024 - Annecy, FR - Le Brise Glace
04/06/2024 - Guyancourt, FR - La Batterie
04/12/2024 - Figeac, FR - L'Astrolabe
04/13/2024 - Cenon, FR - Le Rocher de Palmer
05/02/2024 - Lachine, QC - L'Entrepôt
05/09/2024 - Val-d'Or, QC - Théâtre Télébec
05/10/2024 - La Sarre, QC - Salle Desjardins
05/11/2024 - Ville-Marie, QC - Théâtre du Rift
11/14/2024 - Terrebonne, QC - Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne
11/15/2024 - Saint Damien, QC - Maison de la culture de Bellechasse
11/16/2024 - Saint-Casimir, QC - Les Grands Bois
11/21/2024 - Sainte-Thérèse, QC - Théâtre Lionel-Groulx
11/22/2024 - Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC - Théâtre Le Patriote
11/23/2024 - LaSalle, QC - Théâtre Desjardins
11/29/2024 - Saint-Hyacinthe, QC - Cabaret André-H.-Gagnon du Centre des arts Juliette-Lassonde
11/30/2024 - Trois-Rivières, QC - Salle Anaïs-Allard-Rousseau