The coolest thing

We happened to be in Ilulissat during Greenland's National Day, which, maybe not too surprisingly, falls on the summer solstice. There were many festivities, including traditional drumming, singing, and dancing. The highlight, though, was the outdoor rock concert near the ice fjord. Somehow it was very Greenlandic - most people were carrying around bloody plastic bags full of seal meat that they cooked over small fires made of heather. The music was sang in Greenlandic and in between acts the mayor gave out cultural awards to people who were doing something to maintain Greenlandic culture. (The whole thing was in Greenlandic, so I'm not really sure what was going on.) But in other ways the atmosphere was very European or American. The kids had clothes on that made them look they could have been from southern California. The music varied from pop to grunge to alternative rock. The first band had a 60 year old lead singer (a woman) who started the show by yelling "Hello Ilulissat!". At that moment I knew this was going to be a great afternoon.

During the last act (the Mike F. Thomsen Band) there was a little kid dancing next to the stage who really knew how to dance. I and just about everybody else there with a camera started filming him, and that made him even more excited to dance and show off his moves! Click here to see for yourself - once you open the page download kiddances.mpg. The video is 7 Mb, so it might take a while to download if you have a slow connection. I've watched it about 100 times and I still find it hilarious.