Tanya Tagaq

The Profile

Tanya Tagaq is a Canadian Inuk throat singer and experimental musician who blends traditional Inuit throat singing with noise, electronic and avant-garde approaches.

Winner of the 2014 Polaris Music Prize for the album Animism. Frequently addresses Indigenous history, language loss and the legacy of residential/boarding schools in her work.

Review highlights Tanya Tagaq's use of throat singing fused with noise and industrial textures. The text foregrounds her Inuit identity and the trauma of residential/boarding schools. The album Tongues is read as a transformative, protective mythology where a 'monster' becomes a guardian. The writing emphasizes language reclamation, rage, and eventual tenderness in motherhood.