Histories and Herstories Composers Part 8

Arnannguaq Gerstrøm

I met Arnannguaq Gerstrøm when I was in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, in February 2017. Arnannguaq is an accomplished flautist, conductor and composer. She grew up in the Greenlandic towns of Ilulissat (by the World Heritage Site of Disko Bay, famed for its icebergs issuing from the Ice Fjord) and Nuuk, where she now lives.

As well as being a fine musician, Arnannguaq is also a great and eloquent ambassador for her country. I spent many absorbing hours talking to her over fabulous homecooked food about Greenland’s music and music-makers. We also talked about many aspects of life in modern Greenland in this increasingly outward-looking country. Whilst Greenland is modernising at a rapid pace, it is also proud of its culture and traditions.

On returning to Scotland, I commissioned Arnannguaq to write a piece for viola, flute and bassoon as a companion piece to Faroese composer Kári Bæk’s “Vár Trio.” Vár means Spring and Arnannguaq chose to write Ukioq (Winter). Inspired by the spirit, nature and forces of winter in the Arctic surroundings of Greenland. The early Inuit believed that nature was endowed with the spirits. Every single stone, piece of straw, animal and organism was alive and had a soul. They also believed that the human soul could migrate from animal to animal, and this led to a lot of imaginative stories.

People often think of Arctic winters as being harsh and inhospitable and of course they can be exactly that. However, what I love about Arnannguaq’s piece is that, as well as mimicking the sounds of wind and ice, she illustrates the “sparkle” of a Greenlandic winter – the crystal clear days I remember from my time there, where the bright snow contrasts with the sapphire blue of the sea and the pale blue arctic sky, the sheer joy of being outside in the lengthening days of late winter absorbing the beauty of the landscape around me.

Arnannguaq finds inspiration in nature and once spent 4 nights on icecap along with 30 Greenlandic dogs, collecting material for her works.

Ukioq was premiered in Dunblane Cathedral in October 2017 and later performed as part of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Chamber Series in January 2018, with the composer present at the performance on a weekend where we even managed to summon up some Greenlandic weather for Arnannguaq: temperatures down to minus 10C and knee-high snow.

As with many of the female composers in this “Histories and Herstories” series, Arnannguaq has played a leading role in her community. After her studies abroad, Arnannguaq moved back to Greenland. From 2004-2014 she worked at the Musikskolen in Nuuk which she led for a while. The music school continues to thrive and has expanded to the East of the country, with a branch in Tasiilaq. As well as providing a musical education, it also has an important social function for its young students.

In 2013 Arnannguaq was appointed Cultural Ambassador of Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq and in 2014 she was accepted in the Far North artist network as a composer. In 2014 she also founded the Erinniat Ensemble in Greenland with the purpose of performing new music.

Her list of works includes compositions for orchestra, ensemble, choir and solo pieces. In 2016 three of her works were premiered in the Tivoli Koncertsal, Copenhagen and chosen from among more than 500 submitted works to be performed at the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik at the 2016 Nordic Music Days.

In her compositions Arnannguaq explores her mixed roots from Europe and the Inuit culture, transforming the rhythm and melodies into completely new soundscapes.

As  with many island women I’ve met during my project, alongside her career in music, Arnannguaq holds a number of business positions, including being managing director of the family company Usisaat and co-owning the companies AJLA Nordic and MATU security. She sets great store in these posts in developing her staff – much as she did previously with her charges in the music school.

If you enjoyed listening to Arnannguaq’s Trio, try listening to her orchestral piece “Seqinniarfik”, which depicts the first sunrise after a long winter in Ilulissat.