Inuk singer Susan Aglukark shines like a...

By RICK OVERALL --

SUSAN AGLUKARK has quietly become the most luminescent of the northern lights.

Everything happened so very fast.

The Inuk singer, who tonight plays the first of two shows at Nepean's Centrepointe Theatre, says she's finally getting used to the music business whirlwind that picked her up and dropped her into the spotlight.

After all, it was only a few short years ago that she left her job as a translator in Ottawa.

"I'm feeling a lot more settled in my particular place in the industry," she explains.

The exceptional response to her sophomore CD This Child is, she says, a totally gratifying payback because she "threw everything into it."

It is a doubly pleasurable experience these days, she adds, because the recording has been going strong for a year.

"To see This Child continue to do what it is doing in the marketplace makes me feel really good about what I'm doing -- and that the music must be striking a chord."

Songs like O Siem and Hina Na Ho have vaulted to anthem status with her fans -- putting the singer's every move under the media microscope. For an essentially shy person, dealing with that aspect of the business was the biggest adjustment for Aglukark.

"It was both intimidating and overwhelming that so many people wanted to know who I was and where I came from -- right down to the very last detail.

"I've shared my life in the music and now I've learned it's okay to pull back a bit and protect what little I have left -- you give that when you're ready to."

Although her music speaks to the specifics of Inuit and Native life -- it has been accepted wholeheartedly by listeners of every stripe.

From pop to rock to country, Aglukark is heard everywhere.

"Because of my roots and the messages I sing, I think that's what attracted country music fans to my work. It's also part of the beauty of being a Canadian artist, people here are just more open to performers from different cultures -- Canadians are very accepting."

Aglukark doesn't just leave it at performing, she'll often talk at length with her concertgoers.

"I always spend time after a show, out talking with the people who have come along and what amazes me is that they go from young children to 60- and 70-year-olds, and the reaction is always so positive. I feel I've done something right with this and it moves me to continue the work.

"What amazes me even more is that, although there is such a strong Native side to the music, most of the people who come out are not (Native) -- therefore it means there is a universality that I hadn't really thought about when writing the songs."

After reaching deep inside her heart and touching so many with her music, you might wonder what Aglukark is planning for an encore.

"It's so difficult to see where the next CD will go, what direction I'll take. But the one thing I'm hoping is that people will be open to probably something that will be a completely different sound. I don't ever want to fit snugly into one specific category. I want to try as many things as I can.

"In the end, the music will dictate my direction."