Lydia Etok (L) and Nina Segalowitz, Inuit throat singers from Canada, graciously returned to Grand Marais to perform together on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at Sivertson Gallery. They interspersed their singing with perspectives on personal and cultural efforts to preserve Inuit traditions. The women demonstrated numerous songs, each an imitation of something in traditional Inuit life, such as the sound of the wind, a saw, or a puppy. Throat singing is a competition, usually between women holding onto one another’s forearms and swaying in a circular motion while they sing. The competition always ends in laughter, the loser being the first one to laugh. By the fun Etok and Segalowitz had singing together, it was apparent that no one really loses.
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