Music

Nive Nielsen debuted in 2009 with the album Nive Sings! The core of the group was Nive Nielsen and her then partner Jan de Vroede, who had also played with Chilly Friday. An international collective of musicians, The Deer Children, provided musical backup. Her second album Feet First was released in 2016. Nive Nielsen has gained a lot of attention internationally, and she is also active today as an actor in international productions such as the American drama series The Terror (2018).
MICHELLE FONTAINE/NIVE AND THE DEER CHILDREN, 2016

The earliest Greenlandic music, drum song, is still alive – both by virtue of the performance of collected songs and through new compositions where the drum song is integrated into global music genres. Since European whalers brought instruments and tunes with them, there has been a tradition of integrating the new and putting it in a Greenlandic context.

In recent music history, this is seen, among other things, both in the 1970s rock of Sumes and in the rap music of Tarrak.

Choral and hymn singing

With Hans Egede and later the Moravian mission, choral singing became part of the Greenlandic music culture. Both missions were Protestant, and the early hymn repertoire has therefore been Greenlandic versions of the European repertoire.

Starting in the mid-19th century, Greenlandic composers, such as Rasmus Berthelsen, began to build a repertoire of original hymns and national songs that today play an important role in the Greenlandic hymn and choral tradition. For example, Berthelsen’s Christmas hymn Guuterput Qutsinnermiu is an important part of Christmas traditions, and it is an example of the special slowly undulating singing style inuttooq that is distinctive of much Greenlandic choral singing.

There has been a tradition of spontaneous polyphony at church services, where the congregation could sing four-part chorale harmonisation to a number of hymns. Although this tradition is not upheld everywhere today, choral singing is an important part of national and local culture, and there are a number of choirs that regularly record and tour in Greenland and abroad.

Vaigat music

Vaigat music was inspired by American country and western music that became accessible in Greenland during World War II in conjunction with US base radio and ordering catalogues. Some of the songs are Greenlandic versions of this repertoire. The music is named after the Vaigat Strait between Nuussuaq Peninsula and Qeqertarsuaq (Disko), and the genre is closely tied to the abandoned mining town of Qullissat, where it originated and abounded.

The genre emerged in the 1950s when the local orchestra in Qullissat, under the direction of Jens Hendriksen, was given the opportunity to purchase a variety of instruments, including a pedal steel guitar, which came to play a significant role in the genre’s sound.

After the authorities closed Qullissat in 1972, the music has gained political significance in subsequent criticism of the shutdown, but originally it was entertainment and dance music.

Rock’n’roll

In 1966, The Eskimos released their two EPs, recorded in Nuuk as a two-track and released by Grønlands Indkøbsring through the Kajak record label. The repertoire consisted of a mix of world-famous rock’n’roll hits and kalattuut interspersed with electric guitar, bass and drums.
ANDREAS OTTE, 2022

In the 1960s, rock’n’roll music came to Greenland. There were a number of bands within the genre which, among other things, competed in music competitions in Nuuk. The best known band from that time is The Eskimos, which played at a regular basis at Aleqas Kaffebar (Aleqa’s Coffee Shop) and in the settlement hall in Nuuk in the mid-1960s. Through the record label Kajak owned by Grønlands Indkøbsring, the band released two EPs in 1966. The Eskimos had Barselaj Danielsen (guitar and singing) and Peter O. Petersen (drums) as recurrent figures. The band disintegrated in 1966 when Barselaj Danielsen went to Denmark to study.

The Eskimos sang primarily in English or Danish, and their repertoire consisted partly of songs from internationally known rock bands, partly of music from the kalattuut repertoire exposed to the rock’n’roll instruments, and in addition they had compositions of their own.

The other bands of the 1960s also stuck primarily to the rock’n’roll repertoire.

Sume and the Greenlandisation of popular music

Sume is the biggest rock band in Greenland’s music history. But the band was primarily active in Denmark, where the band members were studying. Here from left: Malik Høegh, Emil Larsen, Per Berthelsen and Hjalmar Dahl.
SUSANNE MERTZ/BAM/RITZAU SCANPIX, 1974

As the home rule movement of the 1970s gained ground, the band Sume was the musical spearhead of the movement’s politics. With Malik Høegh and Per Berthelsen in the front, the band released their first album Sumut in 1973. Their rock music received considerable attention, with the lyrics being in Greenlandic and dealing with Greenlandic cultural themes, and because the band made use of visual and auditory symbols of Inuit identity. Furthermore, the band’s lyrics often contained explicit criticism of Danish influence in Greenland. Sumes’ musical approach, appropriating a global music genre and putting it in a Greenlandic context, remains prevalent today.

Sumes’ first two albums were created in collaboration with the socialist and anti-imperialist publishing house DEMOS in Copenhagen, and in the 1970s, other Greenland-language releases also came out at the publishing house, such as Rasmus Lyberth’s 1975 debut album Erningâ (To My Son) and Juaaka’s album Kalaaleqatikka, both of which genre-wise are more folk music than rock.

The socialist and anti-imperialist line from Sume was upheld by rock bands, such as Inneruulat and Piitsukkut, but from the mid-1980s, the band Zikaza as well as artist Ole Kristiansen became some of the most trendsetting names on the Greenlandic music scene with top-selling albums such as Miki Goes to Nuussuaq (1986) and Isimiit Iikkamut (1989), respectively. These two names had a less confrontational approach to Danish influence in Greenland and focused more on general human themes, such as love and grief. However, the Greenlandic context still had a strong presence through language, symbols, the use of legends and nature as metaphor in the texts.

Pop music and women at the front

Greenlandic rock music did not feature female performers in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the Vaigat music and the softer end of the pop-rock spectrum, there were female singers, among others Birthe Olsen, who sang alongside her brother Per Berthelsen on some popular releases in the 1980s.

Female lead singers took on an increased importance in the 1990s, initially with the band Mariina having Marina Schmidt at the front. Together with Hans Lange, she achieved great success with the 1992 album Utaqqivunga. Mariina was a role model for Nina Kreutzmann Jørgensen, who initially came forward with the children’s release Arnajaraq (1997) together with Julie Berthelsen, but became more influential in the group Qulleq in the late 1990s.

Along with names like Kimmernaq Kjeldsen and Tupaarnaq Mathiassen, Nina Kreutzmann Jørgensen and Julie Berthelsen remain some of the best known names in Greenlandic pop.

Rap

Rapper Josef Tarrak-Petrussen gained a lot of attention in Greenland and Denmark with the song Tupilak in 2016. Using samples from a well-known song of the same name by the group Mariina (1992), he again broached the Danish-Greenlandic theme in popular music.
MARTIN LEHMANN/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2014

Rap came to light with Nuuk Posse in the early 1990s. The group rapped with humour in both Greenlandic, Danish and English. In 2003, the band Prussic politicised the genre by using rap as a mouthpiece for members’ own experiences of neglect. Since then, large quantities of underground rap have been produced in Greenland.

In 2016, the genre again saw wide popularity with rapper Josef Tarrak-Petrussen. With the song Tupilak, based on a sample of Mariina’s number by the same name, he resumed Sumes’ criticism of Danish influence in Greenland and Danes’ racist prejudices towards Greenlanders.

Recent music and international aspirations

Since Sume, the Greenlandic music scene has been mainly nationally oriented, with the songs largely being in Greenlandic and dealing with local themes. However, certain bands and artists have managed to gain attention outside Greenland, including especially Sume and Rasmus Lyberth. In addition, Angu Motzfeldt, Simon Lynge, Nive Nielsen, Nanook and Small Time Giants, among others, have gained attention in Denmark and internationally.

From the 2010s, electronic music has played an increasing role on the Greenlandic music scene through artist Uyarakq, who also produces rap music, and with Da Bartali Crew, which has achieved great popularity within the genre. In addition, the band Inuk has been at the top of the sales charts with Greenland-language pop-rock.

The music industry

At the Danish Melodi Grand Prix in Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning on 23 February 2019, Julie Berthelsen and Nina Kreutzmann Jørgensen came in second place with song no. 7: League of Light. The number was mainly in English, but partly in Greenlandic. Subsequently, DR had to publish their rating system due to complaints about errors. It turned out that Julie and Nina had received the most audience votes, but were rated lowest among the finalists by the jury.
HENNING BAGGER/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2019

In the 1970s, desire arose for record companies and recording studios dedicated to a wave of new music in Greenland. From its creation in 1976, it was the record company ULO that reigned in Greenlandic music. Throughout time, more and more record companies appeared. The most popular releases during this period sold over 10,000 copies.

In the 1990s, development peaked with five active record labels. Eventually, stores had large stocks of unsold CDs, as fewer and fewer purchased CDs due to illegal copying and internet distribution. Of these companies, Atlantic Music, created in 1990 by Ejvind Elsner, is the only one active in 2021. The company has survived by publishing music along with the sale of musical instruments, rental of music systems and holding of festivals.

In the first part of the history of the record industry in Greenland, the record company oversaw the whole process of recording and publishing music. Musicians were transported and accommodated with per diem during the recording period, and the record company had responsibility for marketing, sales, distribution, print and cover. In 2020, when the most popular releases sold about 3,000 copies, Atlantic Music either acted only as a distributor of artists’ own recordings, or the company kept spending down. Recording time has become shorter, and the musicians typically arrange for part-financing of the release themselves, e.g. by obtaining funds. Along with the decline of the established music industry, during the 2010s, artists started to release their music themselves on the digital media. By 2020, 16 out of 24 releases were recorded and released by the artists themselves.

The slow transition to a more digital music industry is linked to population figures. Releases must sell about 50,000 downloaded songs or be streamed 2 million times to make the same profit as 1,000 CDs sold. Therefore, there is only limited access to Greenlandic music online. The most popular bands or artists can still maintain part-time or, in a very few cases, full-time earnings through concert activities.

Further reading

Read more about Culture in Greenland

  • Andreas Otte

    (b. 1983) Ph.D. within Anthropology of Music. Communicator at the North Atlantic House, Odense.

  • Inunnguaq Petrussen

    (b. 1986) MSc. in Public Administration. Political Advisor at the Parliament of Greenland.

  • Poul Ole Ringsted

    (b. 1937) Primary School Teacher. Retired Head Teacher at Government of Greenland.