Inuit Throat and Harp Songs: Eskimo Women's Music of Povungnituk ᐊᕐᓇᐄᑦ ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᒥᐆᑦ ᑲᑐᑦᔭᑐᑦ ᐊᒪᓗ ᕐᑲᓂᕐᐸᓗᑐᑦ

Inuit vocal games (Inuktitut: katajjaq) are a traditional, largely improvised duet practice in which two singers face one another and create rapid, interlocking patterns of exhaled and inhaled syllables. Unlike most song traditions, the focus is rhythmic and timbral rather than melodic: singers alternate short motifs, mimic the sounds of animals and the environment, and gradually accelerate until one participant falters or laughs, ending the round. Historically performed by Inuit women across the Eastern Canadian Arctic and parts of Greenland, the practice served as a social game, a way to entertain children, and a playful competition that builds breath control, stamina, and communal cohesion.