Singing the stories of Labrador: An Inuit choir shares language and culture

Every year at Christmas, a choir comes together in St. John's to celebrate centuries-old traditions and music that are both close to their hearts and from a land far away.

Inuk soprano Deantha Edmunds, who leads the Urban Inuit Choir, teaches the hymns that Nunatsiavimuit have sung for more than 200 years in northern Labrador. 

The choir first came together in 2021 and was developed with the creative vision of Edmunds, an acclaimed performer whose talnents have brought her to international stages. 

This project brings her close to her roots. With help from community elders and researchers, Edmunds has spent the last three years researching and revitalizing the Christmas hymns and traditions from Labrador's Inuit and the Moravian church. 

"Just over 250 years ago, Moravian missionaries came from Europe, mainly Germany, and settled along the North Coast of Labrador. While it is tragic that they banned our sacred traditions of throat singing and drum dancing, thankfully those traditions have been reclaimed and revived and are celebrated," Edmunds said. 

The Inuit choir performs for a special event — Songs and Stories of Christmas in Labrador — that is designed to give the urban Inuit community the opportunity to experience the traditions of home while they live or stay in St.John's.

The songs are sung in Inutittut — the Nunatsiavut dialect of Inuktut — and the members wear their traditional Inuit coats or silipak for the candlelight service, in the Moravian tradition.

Sophie Angnatok, an Inuk drum dancer, throat singer and choir member, is from Nain but now lives in St. John's. She recalls the candlelight service in Nain in which children are each given a candle in an apple. 

"I used to love Christmas because we'd have the candlelight service, which would be for the kids. So the candlelight service represents how Jesus is being born again," Angnatok said. 

"So the apple is the world, and the candle — which is made of honey beeswax — and the light [are] Jesus, the light of the world." 

Members of the choir are of all ages and music abilities. People don't need to have experience to join, Edmunds said, adding the choir is about much more than technical perfection.

"You just have to be an Inuk," Edmunds said. "Not everybody speaks Inuttitut. Some people are fluent, some people are just learning. you just have to come with an open heart and an open mind and a genuine appreciation for this gathering together and raising our voices."

In an interview for CBC Radio's Atlantic Voice, Edmunds said the goal is togetherness. 

"It's about honouring our past, our history," she said. "It's about enjoying the language and coming together."