William Tagoona

William Tagoona, cover photo from “I See You, Takugapkit” 2022 CD release (photo courtesy William Tagoona)

In this interview, Inuit Musician/Singer/Songwriter William Tagoona chronicles his young musical life through the 1960s and 1970s. From hearing and witnessing traditional Inuit music, to singing and playing popular songs with the bands “The Harpoons” and “The Pur” at the residential school in Churchill, MB.

His awakening as an Inuit activist was realized in the early 1970s when he moved to Montreal to work on the team negotiating a land claims agreement with the Quebec government involving the James Bay Hydro Electric project. There, he was inspired by the young indigenous singer/songwriters he met, such as Willie Dunn. William’s awakening ran parallel to the political and social struggles of the Inuit people as they tempered their self-determination and place in the Canadian cultural and political landscape in those dynamic times.

William’s ambition to record his songs at a higher level of production, led to his challenging the CBC to create opportunities for Inuit artists to record with professional musicians in professional recording studios. Thus began the era of the CBC Northern Service Broadcast recordings, in 1978 with CBC producer, the late Les McLaughlin at the helm. The recordings eventually featured artists from the NWT and the Yukon as well. Since the early 1980s, William has performed at many CBC True North Concerts along with a wave of Inuit performing and recording artists at the time such as, Etulu and Susan, Charlie Panigoniak, Alexis Utatnaq and Susan Aglukark.

In 1978 William recorded his first album, “Northern Man” with the CBC Northern Broadcast service. Since then, he has released 3 more albums and been included on numerous CBC Northern Service Broadcast compilation recordings. His song, “Anaanaga” is featured on the 2016 Grammy Award winning compilation “Native North America”. In 1999, William was presented with a Lifetime Contribution Award by the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in Toronto. He was presented with the award by his friend the NWT Premier Stephen Kakfwi.

In his lifetime, William has been driven to fuse his love of popular music with his love for Inuit culture and most importantly, the Inuit language, Inuktitut. William’s legacy continues to this day. The torch being taken up by the plethora of Inuit singer/songwriters and performance artists such as William’s son, Derek Tagoona with his band “Angava”, Tanya Tagaq, Elisapie Isaac, Susan Aglukark, Nelson Tagoona, Sylvia Cloutier, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and “The Jerry Cans”, all keeping the traditional values, culture and language of the Inuit alive and thriving.