Inuit Singers Elisapie Isaac and Simon Lynge

[Audio:http://media.theworld.org/audio/11232011.mp3]

Originally aired on PRI’s “The World”

Elisapie Isaac grew up in Salluit. It’s a small isolated Inuit village in Nunavik, the northernmost region of Quebec. When she was 14, she got her first job.

“…which nobody wanted in the village. Everybody took, you know, cashier at the co-op, stuff like that, working at the school. And the only thing that nobody applied to is the TV and radio station, and I was like, are you guys crazy?”

She began working as a radio and TV host. Elisapie says it was a turning point for her.

“I realized that I may be shy, but in front of the camera, I think I sort of transformed into another person, maybe the artist that I wanted to become — so slowly going towards music.”