Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy)

An image that is always in my head, no matter where I travel or live, is of people dancing at the Kuujjuag Bar, which we call the Zoo. 

In my mind's eye, it is always Friday night, and the moon is full. Most people are either a little drunk or very drunk. The bar and the dance floor are an escape, and people dance to forget their problems. I recognize so many faces on the dance floor, and I can see the smiles and closed eyes as they dance. The bar had a magical and dramatic atmosphere.

This song was so popular in the North, and it reminds me so much of when I was teenager. It was on TV and the radio, and we played it at home. Those lines made us want to scream along with Sheryl. Her song liberates my people in the North, giving them the lines to shout out about being sad without feeling ashamed.

When I play this song, it has Sheryl Crow's enthusiasm, but my Inuit sensibility slows it down. I sing this song in the tundra, where melancholy is the song for the last call. For us, all our triumphs and joys have an undercurrent of mourning and survival.