Susan Aglukark
Country of origin:
Canadian Inuit
Type of music generally:
Mainstream pop with a slight country/folk feel.
Status:
Most recent release, Dreaming of Home (seasonal, 2013); most recent non-seasonal release, White Sahara (2011)
See also:
Susan Aglukark's official site
Comparisons:
Jann Arden (meth@smoe.org)
Covers/own material:
Own material
General comments:
If you're into the top-40 end of the spectrum you'll love her, but if you're not, you won't. I fall into the latter category, but I do agree that she's a hell of a lot more interesting than most of the pap on the airwaves nowadays. (meth@smoe.org)I have heard her first two discs, and while she has a lovely rich voice, her music is too mainstream pop for my tastes. She does do a knock-your-socks-off "Amazing Grace" though. (sophiagurley@hotmail.com)
Recommended first album:
This Child (awphili@hacktic.nl)
Recordings include:
- Dream's For You
- Arctic Rose (1992)
- The Christmas Album (1994)
- This Child (1995)
- Unsung Heroes (1999)
- Big Feeling (2003)
- Blood Red Earth (2006)
- White Sahara (2011)
- Dreaming of Home (seasonal, 2013)
The Christmas Album
Release info:
1994—EMI
Availability:
Wide
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Comments:
I had hoped for a little more (Susan's voice sounds a tad flat sometimes), but this is a nice addition to my Christmas music collection. She sings in Inuit (?) on most of the songs. (Riphug@aol.com)
This Child
Release info:
1995—EMI
Availability:
Wide
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Group members:
Susan Aglukark—vocals
Guest artists:
Daniel Blackman—viola
David Blamires, Neil Donell, Debbie Fleming, Johnny Rutledge—backing vocals
Young Dae Park—violin
Claude Desjardins—percussion, drums
Michael Francis—acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric guitar, mandola
David Hetherington—cello
Chad Irschick—synthesizer
Ronald Laurie—cello
Brian Leonard—percussion
Douglas Perry—viola
Wendy Rose—violin
Mark Skazinetsky—violin
Tom Szczesniak—bass, arrangements
Vera Tarnowsky—violin
Produced by:
Chad Irschick
Comments:
I think it's a great album that Ectophiles should check out. This music is very lush, with awesome drum rhythms in some songs. It's hardly more mainstream pop than "Hold Me" from Building the Colossus. I think she might have changed in the same way that Loreena McKennitt changed when she wrote Parallel Dreams. That one can hardly be compared to her earlier works. (awphili@hacktic.nl)Although Susan's music is not as kick-ass to me as other ecto artists, she nonetheless deserves an honorable mention. Her silky smooth voice feels good on your ears, and her kindness shows through in her songs. There is a track, "Dreams For You", where Susan sings of being told by the world that she could not go anywhere (tacitly because she was a little young woman from the far reaches of Canada), and how her preacher father inspired her in a sermon to persevere on, and how here she was singing to him from her lofty perch of musical achievement. Other tracks on the album, albeit not "torchy", exhibit some good sounds of the Inuit culture. (bill@wagill.com)
Thanks to Neal Copperman for work on this entry.
