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  • Naatanii Mayo (left) and the Troth Yeddha Dance Group performs on the third and final day of the 50th Anniversary Festival of Native Arts, 2/24/24. (UAF photo by Leif Van Cise)

    Modern AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Native Dance Festivals

    October 28, 2024

    AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Native people have long celebrated music and dance as deep spiritual practices, uniting diverse cultures and languages across the region.

  • Members of Wild Shore New Music play for a crowd as part of the 2024-2025 Circumpolar Music Series at UAF. Photo courtesy of the UAF Department of Music

    The Circumpolar Music Series Has Begun!

    October 26, 2024

    The Circumpolar Music Series launched with Fairbanks Flutists, Wildshore New Music, and Dr. Heidi Senungetuk in an intimate concert featuring unique indigenous-inspired works.

  • Join us for the 2024-2025 Circumpolar Music Series opener on Oct 18 at Davis Concert Hall, featuring Dr. Senungetuk and Wild Shore New Music.

    Circumpolar Music Series 2024-2025 Season Announcement!

    September 27, 2024

    Join us for the 2024-2025 Circumpolar Music Series opener on Oct 18 at Davis Concert Hall, featuring Dr. Senungetuk and Wild Shore New Music.

  • A group of women in Scotland sing songs in Gaelic while waulking | Image courtesy of the Harris Tweed Authority

    When Traditional Music Leaves Home

    August 31, 2024

    Ethnomusicology uncovers music's deep cultural roots, revealing how it evolves while preserving authenticity and reflecting enduring human experiences.

  • Jonna Jinton of Sweden uses the Scandinavian singing tradition of kulning to herd cows. Photo credit: Jonna Jinton

    At the Summerfarm

    May 01, 2024

    Who would suppose, in this age of large-scale dairy farms and robotic milking machines, that the way to bring your cows home is to lure them with beauty? That's what traditional Scandinavian farm women did from time out of mind, in high-pitched melodic phrases known as kulning.

  • European plover in a field | Image from Canva

    Big Birds Flying

    March 30, 2024

    Birds long predate us as musicians, and musicians in the North sometimes find themselves compelled to work with them.

  • UAF students, staff, faculty, and community members gather at Troth Yeddha’ Park to commemorate the 2017 Indigenous Peoples Day at the Fairbanks campus. | UAF Photo by JR Ancheta

    Live Events in March

    March 01, 2024

    The Circumpolar Music Series goes into high gear in March with five live presentations, all of which will take place in Davis Concert Hall and are free and open to the public.

  • Whale bone arch in Utqiagvik, AVÀÇÂÛ̳. Photo courtesy of Canva

    Music that Comes from the Cold

    February 01, 2024

    Explore the commonalities and differences in music coming from all regions of the North.

  • A close up of a musician's hands playing a tagelharpa | Screenshot from YouTube

    Minimal Strings

    January 01, 2024

    The human musical instinct is alert to all opportunities, impossible to discourage, and can do a lot with a little.

  • A turn of the century photograph of a Sami family in front of their tent | Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

    Singing into Being

    November 29, 2023

    Yoik is the singing style of the Sámi, the transnational indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, Finland, and a small area of Russia (the territory called Sápmi in their own culture).

  • Man in the woods in the winter posing with a kantele | Canva photo

    The Gateway Harp

    November 07, 2023

    The kantele, variously classed as a kind of zither, psaltery or lap harp, is Finland's national instrument. Scholars debate whether its history reaches back a thousand years or perhaps as many as three thousand. Traditionally the kantele had five or six horsehair strings, was hollowed out from a single block of wood.