Take The Dog Sled is a unique work that fully integrates traditional Inuit throat songs with Western orchestral instruments. Throat songs are sung by two women facing each other as they repeatedly alternate a rapid, rhythmic, variable call and response. The sound is powerful, primal, and deeply human.
I listened to recordings of throat songs day and night for months in order to find a solution to the challenge of integrating two musical traditions which at first seemed to have little connection to each other. Finally, I selected five traditional throat songs, integrating them into the meaning and structure of Take The Dog Sled – Sharpening The Runners On The Dog Sled, Snow Goose, The Mosquito, The River, and The Dog Sled (The Puppy). Rather than making the throat singing merely an exotic addition to the instrumental writing, I made it central to the movements in which the songs appear.
The piece was commissioned by Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to be performed in three Inuit communities in Nunavik (Inukjuak, Kangiqsujuak, and Kuujjuuaq), the northernmost part of Quebec. To my joy, Take The Dog Sled was enthusiastically received by the people for whom it was written.
In its eight movements, purely instrumental ones alternate with those that feature the throat singers. Each movement highlights a different Arctic experience. You may feel the rush of the dog sled, hear the call of the snow goose, experience eternity in the flow of the river.
In order for the audience to be brought directly into the composition from the outset, I begin Tundra with the sound of the land, instructing the percussionist to strike two hard, resonant stones together. Cradle Song, a tender depiction of the universality of a mother’s love for her child, was inspired by a touching, historic photo of a parka-clad Inuit mother, lovingly warming the face of her baby with her breath.
The call and response of the singers is echoed in many ways throughout the piece and is especially apparent in the hocketing of the various pairs of instruments. Eventually, in the last movement, Great Dog Sled Journey (Keep Going), the call and response is mirrored in the rhythmic energy created by the wind and brass players blowing into glass bottles.
Take The Dog Sled is a celebration of life in the Inuit communities of Canada’s far north. It aims to capture the beauty of the vast land. Although the Inuit face many extraordinary challenges, my hope is that their love, joy, humour, and resilience shine through in my composition.
Take The Dog Sled is dedicated to the people of Nunavik.
– Alexina Louie
