She Be She Strike - Long Version

MP3s: 30 Minute version of She Be She Strike and three songs from Inuit singer Tumasi Quissa: Iyagaaluit, Irngutapiga Qiayuapeomat and Niaquvinialuit.

A few weeks ago, I posted five excerpts from a legendary underground cassette called She Be She Strike,  which captured some amazing radio from an Eskimo janitor and his friends who allegedly took over a Canadian radio station when the regular staff went on strike from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (or CBC - "She Be She"). The original post is here. A few people asked me to post the full unedited version, so I'm putting that up now (MP3, right-click to download). Two people from the CBC stumbled onto the original post, and they're trying to get the tape translated from the original Inuktitut. I'll report back when there's info about these tapes from the good folks at the CBC. 

The 30 minute version is rich with Eskimo radio goodness, but listening to it again makes me realize that there is an even longer version that this 30 minute version was made from. I heard that on WFMU in the late Eighties, but there's no trace of it now...

This half-hour long version of She Be She Strike contains all the great excerpts I posted earlier, from the Rolling Stones cover to the inexplicable Eskimo Marijuana segment. There's more talking and singing over records, live in-studio music on the jews harp and guitar, a cover of Oh Susannah, an Eskimo skiffle number, Christian sprituals (!), and an incredible audio collage (which starts at the 25:40 mark) mixing Inuit throat singing games with a male Anglo singer whose voice I recognize but whose name eludes me.

At a few points during the 30 minute segment, our Eskimo janitor friends is accompanied in the studio with a more professional sounding Inuit announcer, who may be named "JG Giles" (since he says that name or phrase repeatedly). All I can say to Patrick, (Station Manager of a CBC station in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada, who commented on the original post) is translate, Patrick, translate! Translate like the wind!

The music on She Be She Strike reminded me of an Inuit record I own by an Eskimo singer-songwriter named Tumasi Quissa. I dug out the LP, and wouldn't you know it, it was issued in 1981 by the CBC's Northern Service. Apparently, Tumasi and his brother performed a few songs live on Canadian national television as part of 1981's Canada Day celebration, and they were such a hit that CBC Northern Service Broadcast Recordings decided to issue a whole LP of their material. I''ve encoded three songs from Tumasi Quissa, all from the LP entitled Better Times (De Meilleurs Jours):

Iyagaaluit - Tumasi Quissa's trademark was singing in the voices of the characters in his songs. In  this one he sings both parts of a conversation between an old man and an old woman, to the tune of Hank Williams' Jambalaya.

Irngutapiga Qiayuapeomat -The title of this song translates as "Tears Are For Joy."

Niaquvinialuit -  Another one of Tumasi Quissa's comic songs. In this one, he sings in the role of a talking skull.

I'll post again when the translations of the She Be She Strike tapes come in...

Comments

[zack]

hey -

i'm fascinated by the tumasi quissa tracks...
i havent been able to find a recording online, so is there any chance that you might be encoding the rest of the record?

as well, if you do happen to find a source to buy it, i would do that for sure!

thanks so much

zack

[Station Manager Ken]

Zack - The LP is long out of print. The three tracks I posted are the three standout tracks on it. The rest of the LP is nowhere near as interesting as those three tracks. -ken

[Martin]

I too, would like to find a source for the Tumasi Quissa recordings.

[Jeff T]

UBUWEB has some inuit throat singing at http://www.ubu.com/ethno/soundings/inuit.html. Personally I don't know how much more of this I can take before I catch the next flight to a hot, igloo unfriendly Caribbean island.

[al]

is it just me or does iyagaaluit sound exactly like nitty gritty dirt band's jambalaya? is it a cover?

[mark and oleepa]

she be she is hilarious.my girl friend and i listened to it and she translated some of it for me.that rolling stones translation is a hoot.if you like i'll try to get oleepa to type out a transcript/translation...or at least a summary of what the heck was happening.mark

[John Elliott]

Does anyone have Bob Ruzika music
on disk/tape or anything? A dentist
in the North in the 60's/70's who
made at least one lp, & was a gzowski favourite.

[Ben]

Thanks for this Radio gem. I live in the Southeastern US, and have lived in Greece and England. But for me, the men in the recording live on the other edge of the world. It is utterly fascinating to hear their different language and look at pictures of their very different culture. But the thing that astounds me is beneath all of that they are exactly like my friends and me. Amazing. They could just as easily be Cajuns or extra mellow Californians. Just gentle, goofy men having fun. Or at least it sounds like that. The translation may prove me wrong. I doubt it, but for all I know it could. Hmmm...maybe I don't want to read the translation. : ) It is perfectly charming as it is! Is the translation available? Good grief! I want to go to Greenland or Canada and spend time with Inuit now.

[geronimo inutiq]

wow thank you so much for posting these. i speak inuktitut but barely so ican't really translate this for you. but anyhow. quyannamiik! (thank you)

[Helen]

Love reading about rare languages and would like to learn one thugh my friends think I'm insane.

[Maasak]

This site is awsome. I speak a tiny bit of Inupiaq and can see some of the similarities in words. Anyway taikuulapiaq (thank you very much)for this interesting site.

[Mattness]

Thanks for posting this! I heard a short clip of it on WBEZ's "This American Life" and was so fascinated with it, that I wanted to hear the rest.

-Matt

[Andre]

Hello. Do you have any pictures of Tumasi Quissa? I own a 4 track EP of him.

Yo yall mighit wanna try getting a Inuktitut dictionary by Arthur Thibert, it will probly help,I do recanize some of what thay say,becuse I studyed some of the Inuktitut from this book. You can buy one from Amazon.com

[Lisa Q.]

niaquvinialuit tagaraatagara! nakurmiik i've been wanting to hear this song for a while now! we listened to it on our community radio in POV all the time! The person who said that this song is of Tumasi Quissa singing in the role of a "Talking skull" isn't quite right, this is a song about skulls.

Lisa Q.