After the release of her album Inuktitut in September, Elisapie unveils a lively folk cover of Love Is a Stranger (originally by British duo Eurythmics), complete with Joe Grass’s guitar arrangements, that still preserves the pop nature of the original. The Inuk singer also presents a new version of Arnaq, a signature song in her repertoire, which combines katajjaq (throat singing) performed by Elisapie and Sylvia Cloutier, and percussion, for a raw, near-experimental result. Both songs are available exclusively via Spotify.
What a thrill it was to revisit these songs for the Spotify Singles series, says Elisapie. With the help of the almighty Joe Grass (guitars, bass, production), and the great Robbie Kuster (drums, percussions), we took Arnaq (which means woman in Inuktitut) to a place where it belongs. It’s all about the vocals! And then we had the best time bringing my favorite youth song into 2023! Nakurmiik Eurythmics for this great song.
Check out Love Is a Stranger (Spotify Single) and Arnaq (Spotify Single) here.
After returning from her European tour, which included a sold out show in Paris, Elisapie now announces a new date for her show Uvattini on June 30th, 2024 at Théâtre Maisonneuve (Place des Arts) as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. With the help of stage director Émilie Monnet, the show blends a variety of techniques, including music, narration, performance and video. Meanwhile, the Inuktitut tour will continue across Quebec as of January 2024. Other shows are also scheduled in Europe next spring, including one at the Café de la danse in Paris on April 4th and at the Botanique in Brussels on April 9th. See the list below or visit elisapie.com for full details.
On September 15th, Elisapie unveiled Inuktitut, her fourth solo album. In addition to spending four weeks in the Top 10 album sales charts in Canada, and five consecutive weeks at #1 on the earshot charts, Inuktitut garnered attention from KEXP, Le Monde, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The National (CBC News), ELLE Canada, Exclaim!, CBC Music, Toronto Star, La Presse, Le Devoir and many others.
On Inuktitut, Elisapie reinvigorates the poetry of 10 legendary songs (by Leonard Cohen, Blondie, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac to name a few) by translating and singing them in her mother tongue. The raw sounds of the thousand-year-old Inuit language gives each track a unique and deeply personal quality. Each song, produced by her close collaborator Joe Grass, is linked to a loved one or an intimate story that shaped Elisapie’s identity. 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.
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
07/12/2023 Montréal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
08/12/2023 Montréal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
09/12/2023 Montréal, QC - Usine C - SOLD OUT
20/12/2023 Québec City, QC - Salle Louis-Fréchette - Grand Théâtre de Québec - SOLD OUT
21/12/2023 Québec City, QC - Salle Louis-Fréchette - Grand Théâtre de Québec - SOLD OUT
18/01/2024 Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC - Salle Albert-Dumouchel
19/01/2024 Brossard, QC - Le Club DIX30
20/01/2024 Sherbrooke, QC - Théâtre Granada
24/01/2024 Joliette, QC - Centre culturel Desjardins
25/01/2024 Gatineau, QC - Salle Jean-Despréz - SOLD OUT
26/01/2024 Chambly, QC - Pôle culturel de Chambly
27/01/2024 Châteauguay, QC - Pavillon de l'Île
31/01/2024 Longueuil, QC - Théâtre de la Ville - Salle Pratt & Whitney Canada
01/02/2024 Mont-Laurier, QC - Espace Théâtre Muni-Spec
02/02/2024 Saint-Jérôme, QC - Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault
07/02/2024 Drummondville, QC - Maison des arts Desjardins
08/02/2024 Victoriaville, QC - Carré 150 - Cabaret Guy-Aubert
09/02/2024 Sorel-Tracy, QC - Salle Georges-Codling
10/02/2024 Waterloo, QC - Maison de la culture de Waterloo - SOLD OUT
15/02/2024 Saint-Eustache, QC - Le Zénith Promutuel Assurance
16/02/2024 Mont-Tremblant, QC - L'Église du Village - SOLD OUT
17/02/2024 Sainte-Geneviève, QC - Salle Pauline-Julien
22/02/2024 Repentigny, QC - Théâtre Alphonse-Desjardins
23/02/2024 Shawinigan, QC - Salle Philippe-Filion
24/02/2024 Laval, QC - Salle André-Mathieu
01/03/2024 Lévis, QC - L'Anglicane - SOLD OUT
02/03/2024 Thetford-Mines, QC - Le Vitrail
27/03/2024 Ottawa, ON - Studio Azrieli - National Arts Centre - SOLD OUT
28/03/2024 Toronto, ON - TD Music Hall
02/04/2024 Paris, FR - Café de la danse
03/04/2024 Grenoble, FR - Centre culturel L'Ilyade
04/04/2024 Annecy, FR - Le Brise Glace
06/04/2024 Guyancourt, FR - La Batterie
09/04/2024 Bruxelles, BE - Le Botanique
12/04/2024 Figeac, FR - L'Astrolabe
13/04/2024 Cenon, FR - Le Rocher de Palmer
02/05/2024 Lachine, QC - L'Entrepôt - SOLD OUT
09/05/2024 Val-d'Or, QC - Théâtre Télébec
10/05/2024 La Sarre, QC - Salle Desjardins
11/05/2024 Ville-Marie, QC - Théâtre du Rift
30/06/2024 Montréal, QC - Théâtre Maisonneuve de la Place des Arts (Montreal International Jazz Festival)
14/11/2024 Terrebonne, QC - Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne
15/11/2024 Saint Damien, QC - Maison de la culture de Bellechasse
16/11/2024 Saint-Casimir, QC - Les Grands Bois
21/11/2024 Sainte-Thérèse, QC - Théâtre Lionel-Groulx
22/11/2024 Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC - Théâtre Le Patriote
23/11/2024 LaSalle, QC - Théâtre Desjardins
29/11/2024 Saint-Hyacinthe, QC - Cabaret André-H.-Gagnon du Centre des arts Juliette-Lassonde
30/11/2024 Trois-Rivières, QC - Salle Anaïs-Allard-Rousseau