Introduction-E

Were you asked to sing too?
Pauloosie: There is no such thing as ajaajaa.
Qilaujjaq, drum dancing?
Pauloosie: Yes.
Was it only women who sang the ajaajaa?
Pauloosie: I have never heard about it.
Saullu: We did not practice that in our area.
Did you do katajjaq, throat singing?
Pauloosie: Throat singing is called katajjaq here, and I think it’s real term is irngaaq,
irngaaqtut. There have to be two people. I think that’s what they call katajjaq here.
Did they practice that in your area too?
Pauloosie: They called it irngaaq.
You never knew of men doing this?
Pauloosie: I cannot do throat singing, which is called katajjaqtut today. I’ve never heard
of men doing it although I often heard of women doing it.
You’ve never heard of it?
Saullu: I only know of Naatanai and Uqittuq, that used to throat sing when I was a
child. The late Uqittuq and Naatanai, who was Siipa’s late mother. Panapaasi’s wife is
one of the ones I heard. I used to watch them when I was a child. They are the only ones
that I know of.
Do you use the term irngaaq too?
Saullu: We call it katajjaq. The ones who use katajjaq were originally not from this area.
I do not know of anybody who did that around here, at least in our home area. When
they would gather for egg hunting, two people from different camps would throat sing
when they got together. They were the only ones I knew of.
This is how they are positioned when we see them on television [demonstrating].
This is how they used to throat sing. I used to pretend to do that when I was a child,
Life Stories – Saullu Nakasuk 89