Stop #3 on the Listen Up tour: Inuvik. At 68.4°N latitude, we were a couple of degrees north of the Arctic Circle, and as far north as we would get on this tour. Canadian North, a sponsor of the tour, got us there. Something I hadn’t seen until this tour was that you get on the plane at the back, because the front is reserved for cargo. So much flying in The North is to deliver things, not people, that the cabin is divided inside by a movable wall, which can expand or shrink the seating area. It was not unusual to be on a big plane with only ten rows of seats for the passengers. The side of the plane flips up for loading and unloading.
Inuvik is a planned community. It was conceived in 1953 as a seat of government for the region, and made it to town status in 1979. The Dempster Highway connects it to the rest of Canada to the south, and is as far north as one can drive in the summer. Inuvik is a very cool place. In the winter, it’s also a very cold place. Which is another matter entirely. I have never before been as cold as I was in Inuvik. But it’s a dry cold. I am told this makes it better.
The sky in Inuvik is very special. It really feels like you’re under a dome at the top of the world. Even at night. Which when we were there was 21 hours long. The sun rose at noon and set three hours later. (A week later, on December 5, it set for the duration, due to rise again January 6.) Of course, the astronomer in me couldn’t understand a noon sunrise, when “noon” should be the highest point the sun reaches at the middle of the day. But then I learned that Inuvik is actually 10° west of Vancouver (meaning that it’s about 40 minutes “earlier” than Vancouver) but it’s still in the Mountain Time Zone (meaning it’s an hour “later” than Vancouver). So Inuvik’s sun time and timezone time don’t match up properly. My assistant Carmen Braden indulged me by finding it mildly amusing that I was so relieved to figure this out.
Fortuitously, we arrived on the final day of the annual craft sale, and I got a great little watercolour by a local artist, Anick Deschenes Jenks. I loved her paintings of the “Smartie Box” houses (there’s an entire neighbourhood of them) that totally captured the spirit of Inuvik.
Here we were working with combined Grade 7 classes at East Three Secondary School with Abe Drennan (who is himself a performer and has recently released a CD). This was the biggest group of the tour, almost 30 kids. They were tons of fun with quite a cast of characters and several keeners. We even got Mr. Drennan to do a dramatic/rhythmic reading of the students’ poetry. Some of these kids will come to Yellowknife in May to become part of the choir, and it’ll be a treat to see them again.
Also, the documentary filming continued with Pedro Marcellino,
who kept having me do “talking head” segments in the frigid cold:
Hello!
Photos 6 and 8: Carmen Braden
Photo 7: Pedro Marcellino
Jeff! This is a marvelous account of what sounds like a unique place and a unique experience. To those of us in the southern regions (hilarious to say that in Cleveland’s winter), this north-of-Arctic Circle town seems otherworldly. Happy Holidays! Anne
Anne, Inuvik is truly unique. In fact, each place we visited was different from the others. But there was something quite special, some kind of different feeling, about being north of the Arctic Circle. I would love to visit there in the middle of summer too, when the sun never sets. The composing work is still to come (as in, now!) but to experience the north like this was a real gift. Happy holidays to you too!