Susan
Aglukark (2003)
 Like
all true artists, Susan Aglukark is a walking contradiction. An
award-winning singer-songwriter and tireless activist, Aglukark
travels the world, performing for political leaders and spreading
messages of hope to the disenfranchised in remote northern communities.
She appears in major magazines and on TV and radio nationwide,
and then returns to her Oakville, ON home to play hockey mum to
her son, Cameron. Still, there’s one consistency to Aglukark’s
art. When it’s time to write, be it a children’s story
or her latest album, the quietly spiritual, unabashedly catchy
and evocative Big Feeling , Aglukark reverts back to the small
town girl with the unshakeable connection to land and lineage.
From that perspective, Aglukark has what most artists would kill
for – a clear sense of her place in the world. Indeed, if
there is a prevailing theme to Big Feeling, expertly produced
by Ben Mink (k.d. lang, the Barenaked Ladies), it’s that
we can most clearly view the present through the prism of the
past.
A troika of songs on the album – the first single, “Crystal
House,” “(For the Love of) Germaine,” and especially
the wildly anthemic “Red Velvet Angel” – perfectly
illustrate this point. Although written about different women
in different eras, from Aglukark’s great-great grandmother
Germaine to contemporary girls she’s met as a motivational
speaker, each speaks to a common humanity that transcends time
and space.
But while Aglukark can often be found raising morale among her
people, the Inuit of Artic Canada, it’s her music that propels
her. And Mink, a gifted multi-instrumentalist and co-writer as
well as producer, found in Aglukark an artist still keen to grow
despite being more than a decade into a hugely successful career,
with two platinum-selling albums (1995’s This Child and
1999’s Unsung Heroes) to her credit. With Big Feeling ready
to assume its place in her catalogue of successes, Aglukark has
her sights firmly set on touring, and is looking forward to focusing
on her fans.
You can find out more
about Susan Aglukark
by visiting her website.
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