Actress, musician, and Greenland native Nive Nielsen gives us her guide to the capital city of Nuuk.
Nive Nielsen is a renaissance woman. The native Greenlander is an actress and musician who has been making music and performing since her elementary school days in Nuuk, where she learned traditional drum dancing. And though it all began in a small fishing village accessed only by boat or helicopter, Nielsen’s music has led to adventures all over the world—including a televised performance for the queen of Denmark.
Her band Nive and the Deer Children is Greenland’s biggest band (one in every 10 Greenlanders owns their debut album), but they’ve made waves internationally, too. They’ve toured the states and beyond, collaborating with artists like The Black Keys and Wolf Parade, and have often performed at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. Nielsen also recently spent six months in Croatia and Budapest filming AMC’s new show The Terror, on which she plays Lady Silence, a Netsilik woman and the daughter of a shaman who defends her homeland from British Royal Navy ships, befriending some of the crew in the process.
She may lead a peripatetic life, but Nielsen’s hometown of Nuuk is where she’s set down roots. Here she gives us her guide to Greenland, from the music to the unparalleled natural sites.
Listen to Nive and the Deer Children’s newest album Feet First on Spotify now, and get a real sense of Greenland’s countryside in their music video for “Happy” here:
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Where (And What) To Eat
“I really like the Thai restaurant here, and then there’s a new Chinese restaurant; otherwise there are burgers and pizzas, steakhouses, and cafes. I like food with Greenlandic ingredients. Cafétuaq [the cafe inside the Katuaq cultural center] serves fish, reindeer burgers, and sometimes musk ox.”
