Yellowknife and the Solstice Festival

Happy Aboriginal Day and Happy Summer Solstice!

Yellowknife and Whitehorse are the two most northern points we've been to on this trip, and we've seen them both during two opposite seasons, with major festivals. Whitehorse was the Rendezvous, here it's the Solstice Festival, with Aboriginal Day celebrations today. www.solsticefestival.ca/index.htm They were broadcasting the performances today on CBC, and there were some awesome musicians. I was really excited to see the throat singers, which Ewan in Fredericton had told us about. I'm not really sure how they produce the sounds, two women faced each other and made rhythmic sounds back and forth and got faster and faster until one of them laughed or lost their breath. It was as much a game or competition as a performance. Check out www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_throat_singing for more on throat singing. Anyway, we filmed that and the rest ceremonies, and then booked the rest of the week pretty much solid with interviews.

We did find some time when we first got up here to take a tour of the town. I have an aunt and uncle up here who are putting us up (or putting up with us :) for the week, and we got a tour of the town and pilot's monument. Great view. It's really beautiful up here, and the landscape actually reminds me of parts of Newfoundland. Most of the land is rocky with thin trees. I'd love to make it farther north, but it won't happen on this trip. Too busy.

Though we lucked out with our timing here. We went to eat lunch down by the water, I think at Oldtown Landing, and the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, was just leaving. She was speaking to some of the employees there as she passed by us, but her husband gave us a big smile.