Nicholai, who’s from Toksook Bay, recently recorded a 12 track album now available on Play, Spotify, Amazon and most recently iTunes under the album name “I Sing, You Dance.”
Nicholai says he first got the idea to record and sell his songs from the comments on his ‘I Sing. You Dance” Facebook page.
“People wanting to buy CD’s, ‘Where can I buy a CD?’ ‘Where do you sell your CD’s?’ and I told them that I don’t have a CD yet, and then they were saying, ‘Well, you need to make one because I want to buy one,” said Nicholai.
Nicholai says the opportunity to professionally record his music arose after he was introduced to Frozen Whitefish band member Mike McIntyre who is also the owner of a new business, Yuk Media.
McIntyre founded the company in June with the mission of bringing Yup’ik culture into the mainstream media as a means of preserving the culture for future generations. Nicholai became the first client. McIntyre says their project started under a pressing deadline; the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in mid-October.
McIntyre says they discussed business over pizza and were able to record the songs in about five hours. Nicholai recorded some traditional songs passed down from family, friends and teachers; like the song called ‘Tarvautnauramken,’ or “Let me bless you.” It’s a song about performing a blessing to drive away evil spirits or sickness. Another song fans will notice is his signature song called ‘I Am Yup’ik.’
They say the album also features three new songs Nicholai came up with during the recording.
“One of my favorites is Ellu’urtaataunga,” said McIntyre. “We were sitting there and he starts singing something and I’m like, ‘what was that?’”
“Yeah I just made that up,” said Nicolai. “Mike’s like we need to put that in the album you should record it and sing it again.”
After that Nicholai freestyled a couple more songs. Some of his sillier performances still can be found on Facebook.
And I, Byron Nicholai, will always love…..
Posted by I Sing. You Dance. on Wednesday, May 13, 2015
While the album is available online they haven’t produced CD’s yet but McIntyre says they hope to order a thousand to sell by Christmas.
Nicholai performed for Secretary of State John Kerry and other dignitaries at the White House in Washington D.C. over the summer. But he says now he’s focusing on his schooling. He’s turned down a few requests for performances. He is in his senior year in high school and wants to finish school on time so he can get back to traveling and performing. He plans on going to college at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He says the location will make it easier to travel for performances. He plans to major in education and minor in Alaska Native studies.
