Late last week, Tanya Tagaq took aim at Brooklyn indie project Eskimeaux, calling out American singer-songwriter Gabrielle Smith for using a band name Tagaq viewed as a culturally insensitive and offensive. Now, though, the Canadian musician has revealed that Smith will apparently be dropping the Eskimeaux name for a new moniker.
Tagaq tweeted this following this morning (April 17):
At this point, however, Smith has mentioned nothing of a name change on her end.
UPDATE (4/17, 4:45 p.m. EDT): Smith has now revealed that going forward her group will be called Ó instead of Eskimeaux.
In a statement to Pitchfork, Smith said, "We've been talking about changing the band name for a little over a year now. The band name is the gateway to the project and I never set out to make it controversial, hurt people's feelings, or bring up a kind of hardship I haven't personally had to endure."
Smith added that she is adopted, explaining, "The only information I have about my birth parents is that my birth father is [indigenous North American group] Tlingit and everywhere I looked for more information the word 'eskimo' was commonplace."
In a statement, Tagaq said, "Gabrielle has taught me that people can be open and respectful when mistakes are made. I am very pleased with this outcome of the band name change and our impending friendship. Pleasant surprises."
Tagaq tweeted this following this morning (April 17):
As previously reported, Tagaq fired a string a tweets at Smith last week for using the name Eskimeaux, at one point even stating "Canadians should show them how much they appreciate hipster bands using slurs to sell music."I want to publicly state that @eskimeaux666 and I have been communicating. They are changing their band name. This is respect. This is ❤️!
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 17, 2017
At this point, however, Smith has mentioned nothing of a name change on her end.
UPDATE (4/17, 4:45 p.m. EDT): Smith has now revealed that going forward her group will be called Ó instead of Eskimeaux.
In a statement to Pitchfork, Smith said, "We've been talking about changing the band name for a little over a year now. The band name is the gateway to the project and I never set out to make it controversial, hurt people's feelings, or bring up a kind of hardship I haven't personally had to endure."
Smith added that she is adopted, explaining, "The only information I have about my birth parents is that my birth father is [indigenous North American group] Tlingit and everywhere I looked for more information the word 'eskimo' was commonplace."
In a statement, Tagaq said, "Gabrielle has taught me that people can be open and respectful when mistakes are made. I am very pleased with this outcome of the band name change and our impending friendship. Pleasant surprises."
