North meets East in new album that pairs throat singing with Celtic fiddle

AnInuk-CapeBreton singerinRankinInlet is celebrating her mixed heritage in her debut albumIce,Lines & Sealskin.

KathleenMerritt'sunique sound brings together traditional throat singing with Celtic-influenced fiddle.

"I often hear, 'This is the first time I've ever heard throat singing to Celtic music,'" saysMerritt, whose mother is fromNunavutand father is from Nova Scotia.

They met when her father moved North from Victoria Mines in Cape Breton as a so-called "Bay Boy"to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. He was posted in Coral Harbour, whereMerritt'smother is from.

"A lot of us have one parent that's from the East and one who is from the North," saysMerritt, who grew up inRankinInlet but spent summers in Cape Breton as a child.

Not always proud

Merritt, 28, says she wasn't always proud of her background.

"Sometimes I would rather not identify with being anInuk, growing up," she says.

"There's just so much negative stuff in the news about Inuit people, but what often isn't shown is the other side of the story, that we have such a beautiful and strong culture," saysMerritt, whoseInuktitutname isIvaluarjuk.

• Listen to Merritt's music on Soundcloud

She learned that history in her late teens while studying atNunavutSivuniksavut, a college program for Inuit youth in Ottawa.

"I learned how strong and resilient our people are," she says. Classmates in the program taught her to throat sing.

Cape Breton roots

"Over the years I started to kind of question,who am I, as a person, in full?" she says.

She became more curious about her father's Cape Breton roots, and used music to connect with that side of herself.

InTaannisirutik, orA Song to Dance To,Merrittthroat sings to a Cape Breton reel performed by Gina Burgess, a violinist with the Halifax-based jazz bandGypsophilia.

"Throat singing works really well with all kinds of music, because it's so rhythmic and can often play the percussion in a song," saysMerritt.

"I think that one really shows the sound between both my Inuit and Cape Breton relations."