With the exposure to new music that travels with us in life, I’m sure that most of us cannot always recall exactly when and how a new artist landed on our listening radar. It’s either likely through radio airplay, a television performance, word of mouth, or a festival/concert appearance. But ask me when I first discovered the music of Québec-based Indigenous artist Elisapie, and after flashing you a mile-wide smile, I’ll recite both month and year from memory with ease.
Oh, so you’re calling my bluff on this claim? Okay, that memorable moment occurred back just two days into March 2024 – during the drive home following our first Canadian road trip of the year. With the radio tuned in to Racines Musicales on the SiriusXM dial as background music to accompany our journey, it would be a unique cover of the 80s Queen hit “I Want to Break Free” bursting across the airwaves that very quickly earned our full attention.
With the pacing of the song slowed down a step or two, what truly sets this cover version apart by Salluit, Nunavik JUNO-nominated (now JUNO-winning) artist Elisapie are the stunning vocals, delivered beautifully not in English or French, but in Inuktitut – one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. A quick internet search led to the discovery of Elisapie’s September 2023 “Inuktitut” album, which featured not only this cover, but another nine popular ‘mainstream’ tunes all recorded in the same manner. How could we not be intrigued by this musical diversity?
Picking up a copy of the album on vinyl during our following Canadian adventure (and spinning it many times), when we learned last July that Elisapie was scheduled to perform at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa the following spring, we jumped on tickets the very moment they went on sale. Fast-forward some nine and a half months later, and once we took our seats in the Babs Asper Theatre within the NAC complex, we were excited at the prospect of witnessing Elisapie firsthand – who had deservedly taken home the hardware for Adult Alternative Album just a week earlier at the 2025 JUNO Awards in Vancouver, BC.
For those perhaps unfamiliar with “Inuktitut” – Elisapie has a strong emotional connection to the songs that were selected, many offering a glimpse into her musical childhood, with links to family and relatives that are no longer with us. The album is not genre specific. Instead, it is free of such constraints – so expect to find the artist covering popular tunes from Blondie and Fleetwood Mac one moment, then Queen and Metallica the next. Yes, you read that correctly. Where else can you find covers of “Heart of Glass” and “The Unforgiven” on the same album – and in a traditional language too?
As the lights dimmed, Abba’s “I Have A Dream” played somewhat discreetly through the speaker system – soliciting cheers from the crowd in anticipation of what was to come – and (at least in my opinion), providing an immediate cue that Elisapie was raring to share those ‘dreams’ of her musical childhood memories. As the silhouetted band members took their spots – Jean-Sebastien Williams (guitar), Joshua Toal (bass) and Jay Essiambre (drums) – the added ambience added by these musicians as the sounds from the PA systems gradually faded offered a unique transition, the crowd naturally erupting as Elisapie made her appearance shortly after.
Performing for a solid one hour and forty minutes, Elisapie launched immediately into “Uummati Attarnarsimat” (“Heart of Glass”) – complete with a well-executed faux ending that caught the crowd off guard with premature applause – before the band broke back in to wrap up the tune. With a very brief pause, Elisapie continued with “Taimangalimaaq” (“Time after Time”), the popular Cyndi Lauper hit, before making her first address to the room – in a mixture of Inuktitut, English, and French, transitioning impressively with ease between languages.
“[This] was supposed to be a very simple little cover album. I just wanted to do it quickly, [to] just get it over with in a sense where it had been years that I had wanted to do that,” she shared. “Until something really much deeper paved the way, and I went through this spiritual, almost healing journey [where] I started remembering a lot of people … and I guess while I just needed to remember, I didn’t realize how deep I was going to go. So, it became this thing and it’s just been having a beautiful life so far, so merci.”
The presence of a visual element (care of a huge projection screen behind the band) added extra context so many of the songs performed (plenty of footage from Elisapie’s home community), and the musicians truly shone throughout the evening. The energy was on full display during performances of songs found on Elisapie’s 2018 “The Ballad of the Runaway Girl” album – with “Arnaq” and “Wolves Don’t Live by the Rules” mixed into the set list. And how about “Call of the Moose,” where the band added a flawless instrumental transition from fully electric to briefly almost acoustic, returning with one blast of electrical explosiveness to bring the song to a close.
Prior to a performance of “Qanniuguma” (from that same 2018 album), Elisapie would make another address. “I think that spring is a reminder of all the cleaning up that we need to do in our lives,” she commenced. “I’m not talking about the house – well, maybe the house, in a way. If you don’t take the time to really reflect and be ready for change, just like the seasons … sometimes we don’t feel a signal or we’re afraid. So, I think spring and nature and life will kind of do their cleaning up for you, but I think it is so much stronger and so much more powerful when you are in tune with that. Sometimes bad energy just gathers and gets heavier, and sometimes we just need to have the strength to say ‘okay, let’s find a way’.”
Performing nine of the ten album tracks found on “Inuktitut,’ Elisapie would sometimes offer additional narrative about the inclusion of a song or simply connect with the audience using comical anecdotes. “I’ve had the best time translating the songs, the music, these songs I stole from white people,” she stated prior to her Led Zeppelin cover (“Californiamut”), appreciative of the cheers that quickly circulated throughout the theatre. Reminiscing about a time she was asked if she would like to duet with Leonard Cohen, the audience once again warmed to her jovial response when saying that she would not, that she would want to simply serve him tea – being so in awe of him.
Prior to her cover of the popular Fleetwood Mac hit “Dreams” (“Sinnatuumait”), Elisapie would take time to share memories that this song provokes for her. “I would have this image that would come back quite often, like a dream … and it’s the land I see, the mountains, and the valleys where I am from in Salluit,” she recalled. “This dream would come back until I was quite older. I feel like I am vertige (dizzy) and kind of scared and excited at the same time. I think I’m laughing, and I’m very small, and there’s someone behind me … my mother hears a song by Fleetwood Mac on the local radio, and she says to shut off the radio. I hear something very serious in her voice, and this dream, I would later learn, was about my [late] brother, and his memory, and how he loved this song.”
If asked to select my most memorable moment during the show, this one is easy – the performance of “Qaisimalaurittuq” that closed the main set. A cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” while the album version utilizes some potent horns to replicate David Gilmour’s guitar tones, on this given evening, all four musicians would congregate around one microphone to deliver a stunning a cappella version. The gentlemen would back Elisapie simply with their humming abilities to generate that recognizable score – and as the song approached the closing moments, each artist would gradually leave the stage – one by one at intermittent intervals – until nobody remained and the lights turned to black. Outstanding stuff!
Naturally, the packed house demanded an encore, and Elisapie did not disappoint. All four musicians returned to the stage to perform two more tunes. Up first was “Quviasukkuvit” – the cover of Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” – which does not appear on “Inuktitut,” but was released as a standalone single last summer. And for her grand finale, Elisapie would draw from her JUNO-Award winning album one last time, inviting anybody in the room to join her on stage for a dance party, and aptly closed with her party-themed interpretation of “Inuuniaravit,” the 70s disco-inspired hit “Born to be Alive” popularized by Patrick Hernandez. With plenty of fans climbing up on to the stage (enough to perhaps leave the fire marshal with sweaty palms), Elisapie would weave in and out amongst her new-found dance partners, while filling the theatre with one final burst of energy to send everybody home full of happiness and positivity.
Set List:
- Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass)
- Taimangalimaaq (Time after Time)
- Call of the Moose
- Californiamut (Going to California)
- Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven)
- Sinnatuumait (Dreams)
- Wolves Don’t Live by the Rules
- Qanniuguma
- Taimaa Qimatsiniungimat (Hey, That’s no Way to Say Goodbye)
- Una
- Moi, Elsie
- Arnaq
- Qimatsilunga (I Want to Break Free)
- Qaisimalaurittuq (I Wish You Were Here)
Encore:
- Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy)
- Inuuniaravit (Born To Be Alive)
Photo Credit: Tour Poster / Artist Instagram
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
