Ahâk! Ahâk!: Moravian Music of the Labrador Inuit

Abstract

Tom Gordon's compilation of Inuktitut Moravian music of the Labrador Inuit provides a wealth of musicological and historical information. Gordon's research interests range from the eighteenth-century music of Labrador to avant-garde music of the early twentieth century, and his deep engagement with two centuries of music history shines through in the historical essay and track commentary of the booklet. The history of the Moravian mission in Labrador and its rich Inuit Moravian music tradition is presented through historical photographs, maps, sheet music, a thoroughly researched essay, a CD compilation of recordings, and detailed commentary on each track. The tracks are largely compiled from previous twentieth-century releases from the early twentieth century through 2016, with most from the 1960s. Although remastered for this 2018 release, the varied sound quality provides an authenticity and charm that speaks to the history of this music on its own.The sometimes-striking and sometimes-familiar audio tracks range from original Inuit compositions to a rendition of one of Haydn's oratorios, but the uniqueness of Labrador Moravian music is consistent throughout the CD. Appropriately, the first track, “Ahâk! Ahâk! Gûdipta iglunga” (Behold! Behold! The doors of God's house are opened), from which the compilation takes its name, was the first anthem composed by an Labrador-Moravian and is based on a text also composed in Inuktitut (49–51).The essay and commentary are presented first in Inuktitut and, in the last half of the booklet, in English. The track commentaries discuss the Moravian and Inuit origins of each piece, the instrumentation, vocal practices, and, when possible, the dates and performers for each recording. The booklet is perfectly designed for reading while listening to the CD. Musicologists will appreciate the discussion of meter, melody, harmonic emphases, instrumentation, and Inuit tonal preferences. Historians will appreciate the extent of primary source excerpts and quotations that ground the entire text. Excerpts from eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century Labrador mission diaries, letters, and original music manuscripts provide a backdrop illuminating the histories of Labrador mission communities and the audio recordings themselves. The essay discusses the centrality of Moravian Inuit choirs and brass bands in mission communities, such as Nain, Hopedale, Hebron, and Makkovik, from the 1770s through the revitalization of this music tradition in recent decades. The community role of choirs and brass bands among the Labrador Inuit is revealed with reverence for Inuit agency in producing a distinct, indigenous, Christian sacred music. Discussion of expanding community leadership roles of choir leaders and organists demonstrates social change over time in these communities, while the recordings demonstrate the continuity of the music tradition.The treatment of pre-mission indigenous history is brief, balanced by an equally brief discussion of Moravian history. The focus on Labrador's colonial mission history, the collaborative atmosphere of the mission communities, and Inuit agency in developing a distinct Labrador-Moravian music centers the cultural distinctions of the music itself. The images interspersed across the Inuktitut and English sections of the booklet augment written descriptions and narrative, demonstrating the good humor and somber attentiveness with which the Inuit approached music performance and worship. The reader can easily imagine many of these tunes ringing out from the brass band pictured on the roof of the church at Nain (59).If there is a shortcoming to this wonderful compilation, it is the lack of engagement between the Inuktitut and English languages. No English-language translations of the hymn lyrics are provided. This omission is perhaps forgivable because most of the songs are readily available in English. Inuktitut readers are a core constituency of the intended audience, and providing the entire text in Inuktitut first rightfully privileges indigenous readers. Still, translations of the Inuktitut lyrics into English would help demonstrate the intellectual and cultural distinctions of Inuit Moravians and provide a more valuable resource for linguistic studies. As of 2013, the Northwest Territories Official Language Act recognizes Inuktitut and is generally accepted across Canada. There are approximately 3,500 monolingual Inuktitut speakers in Canada, and upwards of 35,000 bilingual Inuktitut speakers, including the vast majority of Labrador Inuit. Labrador Inuit speak their own dialect and have a literate tradition that was adapted from Greenland Moravian missionaries after 1760. The polysynthetic constructions that were undoubtedly developed to present Moravian theology and Christian faith in Inuktitut are therefore obscured and remain invisible in this publication. Inclusion of English-language translations would illuminate this history as well, but would require an entirely different sort of work and a significantly longer text that might deemphasize the musicological focus. Altogether, Ahâk! Ahâk! is an excellent multimedia production useful for historians, musicologists, indigenous studies scholars, and curious readers and listeners.