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Quick Facts
Biography
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Elisapie Isaac (also known simply as Elisapie; syllabics: ᐃᓕᓴᐱ) is a Canadian pop singer, broadcaster, documentary filmmaker and activist. Born in Salluit, Quebec to an Inuk mother and a father from Newfoundland, she performed at age twelve with the Salluit band Sugluk.Isaac collaborated with instrumentalist Alain Auger in the musical project Taima (Inuktitut for "that's all" or "it is done") in the early 2000s. The band's sole album, Taima, won the Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year in 2005.
In 2010, Isaac's first solo album, There Will Be Stars, was released by Pheromone Recordings. Her second solo album, Travelling Love, was released in October 2012. In the fall of 2012, she released the pop album Travelling Love, recorded simply as Elisapie. The Juno Awards mistakenly nominated her for its breakthrough artist of the year, before realizing that she had been a Juno winner in 2005, and rescinded the nomination. She garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards for her song "Far Away", which appeared in the film The Legend of Sarila. She was nominated for the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019, for The Ballad of the Runaway Girl. In July 2019, the album was shortlisted for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize.
Isaac has an extensive background in media production as well. When asked about her work in this medium in relation to her music she has stated "I really believe that communication and radio was really a place for me to express my inner creativity, and I love that medium. And it has helped me to be a little more aware, especially when I have to be doing interviews and have a larger vision of my work than just the artiste point of view".
If the Weather Permits
Isaac's 2003 National Film Board of Canada documentary If the Weather Permits looks at the changing lifestyles of Inuit people in Nunavik. The film received several awards including the Claude Jutra Award for best new director at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, and the Rigoberta Menchu Prize at the First Peoples' Festival. It is included in the 2011 Inuit film anthology Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories.
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Nominee/Work | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Polaris Music Prize | Long List, Short List | The Ballad of the Runaway Girl | ||
2019 | Juno Award | Indigenous Music Album of the Year | The Ballad of the Runaway Girl | ||
2014 | Canadian Screen Award | Best Original Song | Far Away | Nominated | |
2005 | Juno Award | Aboriginal Recording of the Year | Taima | Won |