The Jerry Cans ( iu, ᐸᐃ ᒑᓚᖃᐅᑎᒃᑯᑦ, ''Pai Gaalaqautikkut'') are a band from

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. In 1987, its t ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

who combine traditional

Inuit throat singing Inuit throat singing, or ''katajjaq'' ( Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᑕᔾᔭᖅ), is a distinct type of throat singing uniquely found among the Inuit. It is a form of musical performance, traditionally consisting of two women who sing duets in a ...

with

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

and

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

. Their music is largely written in

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

, the indigenous language of the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

, with lyrics which "reflect the challenges and beauty of life in the Far North". Their 2016 album, ''Inuusiq/Life'', was released on Aakuluk Music, Nunavut's first record label, which the band's members established in 2016 "to support Inuit and Indigenous musicians". The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Andrew Morrison, vocalist and accordionist Avery Keenainak, violinist Gina Burgess, bassist Brendan Doherty, and drummer Steve Rigby."The Jerry Cans northern life"
''

The Coast The Coast may refer to: * ''The Coast'' (newspaper), a weekly newspaper in Halifax, Canada * The Coast, Newark, New Jersey, a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, USA * "The Coast", a song by Paul Simon from his 1990 album ''The Rhythm of the Saints ...

'', November 17, 2016. The band's name derives from Rigby once trying to build a drum set out of old

jerrycan A jerrycan (also written as jerry can or jerrican) is a robust liquid container made from pressed steel (and more recently, high density polyethylene). It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold of fuel, and saw widesp ...

Background

The band originated as a blues rock trio featuring Morrison, Doherty and Rigby while the three lived in Peterborough, Ontario attending post secondary education. After moving to Iqaluit, Nunavut the group expanded to include Nancy Mike, an accordionist and throat singer originally from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Later, Burgess, originally from Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and also a member of

Gypsophilia Gypsophilia was a Canadians, Canadian jazz band from Nova Scotia. The band is composed of Ross Burns, Alec Frith, Nick Wilkinson (guitars), Gina Burgess (violin), Adam Fine (double bass), Matt Myer (trumpet), and Sageev Oore (piano, keyboards, ac ...

, joined the band after visiting Iqaluit on a cultural exchange program between the

Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts (the Conservatory) is a Canadian performing arts school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that offers courses in higher education in music, dance, and theatre. It is the largest and the oldest (1887) of such org ...

and the Iqaluit Fiddle Ensemble.

Career

Their debut album, ''Nunavuttitut'', was released in 2012. The band were locally successful in their early years, but began to attract wider mainstream attention after

Tanya Tagaq Tanya may refer to: * Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. * Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name * Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946) * List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...

won the

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

in 2014, increasing the visibility and commercial viability of Inuit throat singing."The Jerry Cans bring Inuk roots-rock to Ottawa"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', March 19, 2015. Their third album ''Inuusiq/Life'', released in 2016, was produced by

Michael Phillip Wojewoda Michael Phillip Wojewoda is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and has received one for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for Producer of the Year. History Wojewoda began recording bands ...

. They have toured extensively, including across Canada and festival dates in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In 2017, the band released an

Inuttitut Inuttitut, Inuttut, or Nunatsiavummiutitut is a dialect of Inuktitut. It is spoken across northern Labrador by Inuit, whose traditional lands are known as Nunatsiavut. The language has a distinct writing system, created in Greenland in the 1760s ...

-language cover of

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

's "

Ahead by a Century "Ahead by a Century" is a song by Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip. It was released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, ''Trouble at the Henhouse''. The song reached number one on Canada's singles chart, and is the band's ...

". In the same year, they organized the first Nunavut Music Week as a platform to showcase musicians from the territory.

Ben Rayner Ben Rayner is a music critic and writer for the ''Toronto Star'' since 1998. His commentary on artists is extensively cited across the industry. Indie88 considers him "of the most respected industry professionals around." In 2012, he served on t ...

"Juno Awards underdog the Jerry Cans drawing eyes and ears to music of the North"
''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'', March 25, 2018. They also recorded and performed music for the

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN, stylized aptn) is a Canadian specialty channel. Established in 1992 and maintained by governmental funding to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, APTN acquired a national broadcast lice ...

(APTN) children's series ''

Anaana's Tent ''Anaana’s Tent'' ( iu, ᐊᓈᓇᐅᑉ ᑐᐱᖕᒐ, ''Anaanaup Tupinga'') is a Canadian pre-school children’s television show created by Taqqut Productions in 2018. It airs in Canada on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, APTN in both I ...

'', including "Naasailu", a counting song; "Uumajut", a song about traditional Inuit food; and "We're Headed to Anaana's Tent", the program's primary theme song. In January 2020, founding member Nancy Mike left the band. Soon after, they released two new singles, "Atauttikkut" (January 24) and "Havava" (February 14), as a preview of their upcoming album ''Echoes'', which was released on May 15.

Aakuluk Music

In 2016, the band established the record label Aakuluk Music to release albums by Nunavut-based artists. In addition to the band's own albums, the label has also released music by Aasiva, FxckMr,

Northern Haze Northern Haze is a Canadian rock music group from Igloolik, Nunavut, whose self-titled 1985 debut album is believed to have been the first-ever indigenous-language rock album recorded in North America. Formed in 1984 by Kolitalik Inukshuk, Nais ...

Riit Riit (ᕇᑦ) is the stage name of Rita Claire Mike-Murphy, a Canadian Inuk musician and television personality from Pangnirtung, Nunavut who is most noted as the host of APTN's children's series '' Anaana's Tent''.

Terry Uyarak Terry Uyarak is an Inuk singer-songwriter from Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada, whose debut album ''Nunarjua Isulinginniani'' was released in 2020. Prior to launching his musical career, Uyarak was a performer and artistic director with Artcirq, an Inui ...

and The Trade-Offs.

Awards

In 2013, Mike won the

Canadian Folk Music Award The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...

for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year at the

9th Canadian Folk Music Awards The 9th Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented at the University of Calgary Theatre in Calgary, Alberta on November 10, 2013. The ceremony was hosted by the CBC's Shelagh Rogers and musician Benoit Bourque. Overall, 70 artists and groups were ...

. In 2015, the band garnered two nominations at the

11th Canadian Folk Music Awards The 11th Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented in Edmonton, Alberta on November 8, 2015.

, for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year and Pushing the Boundaries. The band received

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominations for Breakthrough Group of the Year and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2018 The Juno Awards of 2018, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented in Vancouver, British Columbia during the weekend of 24–25 March 2018. The primary telecast ceremonies were held at Rogers Arena. Vancouver previously hosted the Juno ...

."Arcade Fire and Daniel Caesar lead 2018 Juno Award nominations"

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, February 6, 2018. They performed their song "Ukiuq" live at the televised ceremony, with a collective of supporting musicians from Nunavut including Josh Qaumariaq, Avery Keenainak and James Ungalaq.

Books

The Jerry Cans wrote a children's board book in 2017 titled ''Mamaqtuq!'' () based on their song of the same name. ''Mamaqtuq!'' is bilingual, written in Inuktitut and English, and is illustrated by Eric Kim.

Discography

* ''Nunavuttitut / ᓄᓇᕗᑦᑎᑐᑦ'' (2012) * ''Aakuluk / ᐋᑯᓗᒃ'' (2014) * ''Inuusiq/Life / ᐃᓅᓯᖅ'' (2016) * ''Echoes'' (2020)

References

External links

The Jerry Cans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerry Cans, The Inuit throat singing Musical groups from Nunavut Canadian folk rock groups Inuit musical groups Canadian alternative country groups