2015-16 UMS LEARNING GUIDE Tanya Tagaq BE PRESENT Table of Contents 04 05 06 17 ATTEND THE DETAILS LEARN CONNECT 07 Why? 18 Being an Audience Member 09 Artist 21 Arts Online 11 Art Form 23 Recommended Reading 14 Performance 25 Writing About Live Performance 28 About UMS 30 Credits and Sponsors BE PRESENT 2 february 2 february UMS SCHOOL DAY PERFORMANCE Tanya Tagaq IN CONCERT Tuesday, February 2 // 11 am Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre BE PRESENT 3 Attend Coming to your E-mail Inbox! Map and Driving Directions Logistical Details (drop-off/pick-up locations) Venue Information UMS.ORG / 734.615.0122 BE PRESENT 4 The Details ACCESSIBILITY We aim to maximize accessibility at our performances and below are details regarding this performance’s points of accessibility. If you have further questions e-mail [email protected] or call 734-615-0122. SEATING The Mendelssohn Theatre is wheelchair accessible. The theater has wheelchair accessible seating available in the rear on the main floor. There is no wheelchair accessible seating in the balcony. PARKING There is handicapped parking very close to The Mendelssohn Theatre on Fletcher Street and in the parking structure behind the Power Center on Palmer Drive. The first three levels of the Palmer VENUE ADDRESS Drive structure have 5 parking spots on each level to each elevator. Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 There are a total of 15 parking spaces in the garage. EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBER BATHROOMS 734.764.2538 ADA compliant toilets are available on the main floor of the Michigan League and the orchestra level of the theater. ARRIVAL TIME Between 10:30-10:50am ENTRY The front doors are not powered; however, there will be an usher TICKETS at that door opening it for all patrons. There is a barrier free access We do not use paper tickets for School Day Performances. We hold located at the North University entrance to the building, with elevator school reservations at the door and seat groups upon arrival. access to the main floor of the theater level. FOOD No food or drinks (including school lunches) are allowed in the theater. BE PRESENT 5 Learn Tanya Tagaq UMS.ORG / 734.615.0122 BE PRESENT 6 LEARN Why? UMS EDUCATION ARTISTIC STATEMENT Tanya Tagaq brings ancient and modern together with striking, provocative music. Tagaq has adapted Inuit throat singing, traditionally performed by two women, into a solo art form, mixing it with rock, electronica, and metal to create an unapologetically unique sound. Her music directly addresses issues facing indigenous communities by advocating for cultural preservation and bringing awareness to human rights violations. Tagaq’s latest album Animism wordlessly laments the lack of connection between humans and nature in modern life. In its final track, “Fracking,” Tagaq personifies the pain of the earth in the wake of environmental destruction. At the same time, she defies classification, reaching across politics, genres, and content: “I love my culture so much but I don’t like having the responsibility of representing it because what I’m doing is so opposite the tradition. I wish people would just focus on the sound of it instead of picturing igloos or whatever.” We hope Tanya Tagaq’s School Day Performance will challenge students to immerse themselves in new soundscapes, explore Inuit culture, and learn more about the historical and current problems impacting indigenous peoples around the world. BE PRESENT 7 LEARN Why? ONLINE: CONNECTING TO THE PERFORMANCE Learn about Tanya Tagaq and her album Animism in this video from her record label, Six Shooter Records. BE PRESENT 8 LEARN Artist TANYA TAGAQ: 5 THINGS TO KNOW 01 Tagaq was born and raised in Nunavut, Canada’s least populated and northernmost province. She did not begin throat singing until she moved to Halifax for college and found traditional music to be a cure for her homesickness. Tagaq is largely self-taught, has had limited traditional throat singing instruction, and does not read sheet music. 02 03 04 05 Her solo performances Tagaq has brought her rich This School Day Performance Tagaq uses her performances are wordless and entirely vocal palate to collaborations will also feature violinist Jesse and international profile to improvised. “If they are good with leading artists across Zubot and percussionist bring awareness to injustices shows, I pretty much lose many genres. Highlights Jean Martin. Their improvised perpetrated against indigenous consciousness,” she says. include this performance accompaniments provide an people around the world, “Nothing exists, but it’s not with the experimental pop otherworldly backdrop for addressing genocide, poverty, scary, it’s total peace. I will hear singer Björk and Nunavut, a Tagaq’s vocals. and human rights violations. a tiny voice, and it sounds like multimedia project created She sparked a controversy in it is far away and it gets louder with UMS favorite the 2014 after posting a picture of and louder, and then I realize Kronos Quartet. her infant child next to a dead it’s coming from my mouth.” seal. The photo provoked anger and even abuse from animal rights activists; Tagaq says she was attempting to highlight the importance of maintaining traditional Inuit hunting practices. BE PRESENT 9 LEARN Artist ONLINE: GETTING TO KNOW TANYA TAGAQ Link to Spotify playlist. BE PRESENT 10 LEARN Art Form INUIT CULTURE: HISTORY STORYTELLING Inuit people have lived in the north of present- sovereignty over the northern territories and Oral traditions of music and storytelling day Canada, Greenland, and Alaska for more forcibly moved many Inuit away from their are important parts of Inuit culture. Inuit than 5,000 years. Early tribes developed traditional lands. By the 1960’s, the Inuit had storytelling involves elements of supernatural advanced technology to adapt to the harsh transitioned from self-sufficient nomadism to mythology, tribal histories, moral tales, and arctic environment including igloos (used for dependence on a capitalist economy in which survival knowledge. These stories are still snow shelter) and boats (used for open-water they did not have the resources to compete. being passed down today; this video adds hunting). The Inuit traditionally subsisted on a animation to ancient storytelling techniques diet almost entirely comprised of meat such as In the 1960’s and 70’s, increased access to to tell the traditional fable “The Owl who whale, fish, caribou, and seal. Until the first half education produced Inuit leaders concerned Married a Goose.” of the 20th century, tribes were nomadic even with human rights and representing indigenous in the winter, moving alongside the animals interests in national politics. Inuit political they hunted. associations have been successful in legally LANGUAGE reclaiming ancestral lands. Today, Inuit There are several Inuit languages spoken in At the turn of the 20th century, urbanization, communities maintain many traditional different areas. The Inuit of Canada speak a diminishing food supply, and disease began practices but face poverty levels well above the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. Follow this link to to seriously threaten traditional ways of life. national average due to incredibly high food learn a few words of Inuktitut. After World War II, the Canadian government costs, unemployment and a lack of access to became concerned with enforcing its medical care and affordable housing. A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY: In the past, Americans have commonly called the Inuit “Eskimos,” but the term is now considered pejorative because of a perception that it meant “eaters of raw meat” in other Native American languages. The word “Inuit” refers to a group of people or to the culture as a whole; “Inuk” is the singular form. BE PRESENT 11 LEARN Art Form INUIT THROAT SINGING Throat singers produce more than one pitch at a time through the positioning of the lips, tongue, larynx, and jaw. Though unfamiliar to most Western ears, throat singing is part of a number of global musical traditions including those of central Asia, South Africa, and northern Canada. Inuit throat singing originated as a way for women to entertain themselves and engage in friendly competition while men were away hunting. Two women face one another closely and improvise musical patterns; the first one to laugh or run out of breath loses. Watch this video to learn more about Inuit throat singing in its traditional form. BE PRESENT 12 LEARN Art Form INUIT THROAT SINGING In this video, Tagaq explains the vocal processes used to create the basic sonic building blocks of Inuit throat singing. She usually tells her students to “spend one year trying to sound like their dog.” BE PRESENT 13 LEARN Performance TANYA TAGAQ Tanya is directly musically in touch with something that is almost a ghost. To me, it is something that is so special and so much a part of the earth and the land and the environment DAVID HARRINGTON, KRONOS QUARTET BE PRESENT 14 LEARN Performance Tanya Tagaq IN CONCERT Jean Martin, drums Jesse Zubot, violin Tuesday, February 2 // 11 am Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Tanya Tagaq’s performance will be unlike anything you’ve seen before. In collaboration with her trio, Tagaq’s powerful voice tells wordless stories that evoke common human experiences. Tagaq is also a highly kinesthetic performer: expect to see her moving constantly during her extended improvisations. We hope our School Day Performance audiences enjoy Tagaq’s unique and powerful performance. BE PRESENT 15 LEARN Performance ONLINE: TANYA TAGAQ Watch Tanya Tagaq perform live in this video with Cris Derksen (cello) and Michael Reed (DJ) at the Festival Barroquisimo , recorded in Puebla, Mexico, 2010. BE PRESENT 16 Connect Being an Audience Member Arts Online Recommended Reading Writing about Live Performance About UMS UMS.ORG / 734.615.0122 BE PRESENT 17 CONNECT Being an audience member WATCHING AND LISTENING When preparing to attend a live performing arts event, we hope you will think about the concepts of concert conduct and manners.