The Drum Dancers of East Greenland
by Dr. Sean Dowgray, CMS Faculty Organizer and Term Assistant Professor of Music
By the time this article hits your eyes, we’ll be in March. In Fairbanks, the increasing daylight is the true feature of the month. It is in March in particular that we don’t just see more of the light, but we finally feel it again. However, for me, writing this feature took place throughout February, a month that is still representative of deep winter in Fairbanks (it’s currently -26F). Between my submission deadline and the publication, perhaps the most anticipated event of the month will occur: The Festival of Native Arts. During this time, we will see incredible performances from a number of dance groups from Fairbanks and elsewhere. I am always excited and amazed by the communities of singers, drummers, and dancers who grace the stage each night. As a percussionist myself, I most look forward to the ways the drummers fill the space with the sound of their drums. The rhythmic pulsing, sometimes regular, sometimes uneven, beginning on the rim, moving to the skin, and often in large numbers, transforms the Davis Concert Hall into a different space altogether. This is the sound of celebration, of community, of thanks, and of commitment.
The lead up to the Festival of Native Arts also reminds me of groups beyond Fairbanks. The , who so palpably demonstrated their Renaissance at the 2025 Festival of Native Arts, is one example of groups who go to great lengths to travel to Fairbanks to share their music with this community. Or the , who often perform for Quyana in Anchorage but not commonly at FNA to my knowledge, perhaps one day soon.
I was also reminded of Circumpolar drumming practices that we don’t tend to see at the Festival of Native Arts, such as solo drum dances that can be found in Eastern Greenland. Dr. Heidi Senungetuk surveyed this in her presentation as part of the 2023-2024 CMS season, , performing for tourists on their excursion. In this video, we hear singing off to the sides of the drummer. In this case, it is the drummer who is the focus. Of interest is also the technique used to play the drum. An initial upward strike from the right hand strikes the underside of the rim, followed by a downward and outward motion in the right hand (holding the drum) in order to give multiple hits, and therefore, more weight on the second pulse. From the same performance and location, this video shows a brief excerpt of a . Here, there is no choreography other than the two rim strikes, the drum is stationary and the drummer looks down while singing, contrasting the beautiful motions of the first drum dancer for a striking stillness. We can see a similar technique from Kristina Boassen in , however, she sings alone.
(an island just east of Tasiilaq) demonstrates a notable variation on this drumming technique with an additional single strike. The (presumable) tour guide introduces the drum dancer, Anda Kuitse, and outlines the two songs he will sing. The first is a symbolic story about a raven and a goose who meet and fall in love. They spend time together in the summer, but the geese must leave in autumn while the ravens remain for winter. The raven wants to follow the geese and makes a deal with them to rest on their backs over the ocean. The geese don’t keep their side of the deal, and the raven drowns. The guide explains that the story symbolizes how certain things cannot be together, and she says, “it’s impossible.. and it’s the same with people, some people can never be together.” The second song is not symbolic but an “ode to nature.”
Often, the songs performed by the drum dancers of Eastern Greenland come from the families of these drummers. Sometimes these dances can take place in the form of competitions, for example, two song cousins may sing and dance simultaneously while humorously pointing out the other person's flaws. This is light-hearted by nature, but can also help overcome serious problems and feuds.
In multiple videos I have surveyed, the drum dancers of Greenland are often noted as “one of the final drum dancers” or “the only drum dancer” in their respective areas. We are fortunate to have this documentation to survey, most of which are casual recordings made by tourists traveling through the area. However, it is also a reminder that cultural revitalization cannot occur via documentation alone. The knowledge that these songs offer rests inside those who practice them. In order to support this, we must work to create spaces in which these musicians can genuinely share this knowledge.
ϳԹ the Author
Dr. Sean Dowgray is a classical percussionist specializing in modern and contemporary
music. Dowgray is a proponent of creative collaborations which has resulted in recent
musical works by Daniel Tacke (Vorrücken and einsamkeit), Josh Levine (Shrinking world/expanding
and Les yeux ouverts) as well as new chamber works by Justin Murphy-Mancini (Sic itur
ad astra and A Song of Grecis.) and Lydia Winsor Brinadmour (As if, sand). In the
recent past, Dowgray has collaborated closely with composers including Jürg Frey (Garden
of Transparency), Christopher Adler (Strata), Ioannis Mitsialis (Machine Mode), Lewis
Nielson (Where Ashes Make the Flowers Grow and NOVA), and James Wood (Cloud Polyphonies).
As a soloist, Dr. Dowgray has focused extensively on works that stretch the technical
and expressive capabilities of both instrument and performer. This includes the work
of Jason Eckardt, Josh Levine, Daniel Tacke, Salvatore Sciarrino, Lewis Nielson, David
Lang, Christopher Adler, Brian Ferneyhough, Luciano Berio, Richard Barrett. Dowgray
has been featured as a soloist at the Oberlin Percussion Institute, the Percussive
Art Society International Convention (PASIC), the WasteLAnd New Music Series, Harvard’s
Institute for Advanced Learning, the University of Arizona, the SoundON New Music
Festival, and Eureka! Musical Minds of California. As a creative practitioner, Dowgray
has focused recently on his project, WHEN for mixed ensemble set to premiere in 2025.
He recently completed the interdisciplinary collaboration, In A Time of Change: Boreal
Forest Stories featuring artists and scientists. As part of this collaboration, Dowgray
created the work Moving Through the Boreal Forest in partnership with Maïté Agopian
(light and shadow work) and Daryl Farmer (poetry), Associate Professor of English
at UAF. Dr. Dowgray is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy where he studied
with John Alfieri, the Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.) where studied with Michael Rosen,
the ϳԹ (M.M.) where he studied with Dr. Morris Palter,
and the University of California San Diego (D.M.A) where he studied with Steven Schick.
In Dr. Dowgray's dissertation, Time Being: Percussion as a Study of Time, he presents
an analyses of new and rarely heard works for and with percussion through theoretical
frameworks of time study from authors including Jonathan Kramer, J.T. Fraser, Edward
T. Hall, and others. Recent notable performances include John Corigliano's percussion
concerto, Conjurer with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and Lewis Nielson's Lengua
Encubierto for solo percussion at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention
(PASIC).