Throat doc with Tanya Tagaq in production in Toronto

Thursday, October 19th, 2017 2:59pm
Tanya Tagaq in concert
Working with Chelsea is easy because we are natural friends. She knows how to make me comfortable and she is incredibly accomplished and talented. She also likes Arctic char, so it was not much effort to win her over.” — Tanya Tagaq

Tanya Tagaq, Inuk artist and activist, is collaborating with Chelsea McMullan on a new documentary described as a “metaphysical journey through the life and art” of Tagaq.

Throat is in production in Toronto at the National Film Board of Canada, and Tagaq will use her music as an “aesthetic and emotional map of the landscape of her experiences, endeavouring to capture the deep interplay between Tagaq’s creative and political voices.”

Her upcoming concert at Toronto’s Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church on Nov. 1 will be filmed by McMullan.

Tanya Tagaq is from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut and has elevated the Inuit throat-singing tradition to a new level. She has collaborated with such artists as Bjork and the Kronos Quartet while building global acclaim. 

“Working with Chelsea is easy because we are natural friends,” said Tagaq. “She knows how to make me comfortable and she is incredibly accomplished and talented. She also likes Arctic char, so it was not much effort to win her over.”

McMullan received her own acclaim with the NFB musical documentary My Prairie Home with singer/songwriter Rae Spoon. 

“Working with Tanya has been wonderful,” said McMullan. “We’ve developed an extremely fruitful collaboration and I’m excited for it to evolve and grow into the creation of a cinematic experience as immersive, visceral, and immediate as Tanya’s music.”

Throat will launch in winter 2019.