Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things to know about PIQSIQ: Songs From the Cultch, April 30 at the Talking Stick Festival

All you need to know about the Vancouver-area sister act, from throat-singing competitions growing up to a “Vaccination Jam” video

By Janet Smith

PIQSIQ, THE Inuit-style throat-singing sister act of Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, has been creating buzz with a mix of haunting ancient songs and cutting-edge electronic looping.

With roots in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot and Kivalliq Regions, and Yellowknife-raised, the Metro Vancouver-based pair has been going strong through the pandemic. Highlights include a Chan Centre for the Performing Arts show in the fall, followed by the release of the new album Taaqtuq Ubluriaq: Dark Star in late October.

Now you can check the dynamic duo out again via the recorded concert PIQSIQ: Songs from the Cultch, a copresentation by the Talking Stick Festival and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on April 30 at 7 pm.

Here are five things to know about this genre-pushing duo. And read our full interview with the pair from last fall here.

#1

Known as katajjaq, Inuit throat-singing games were traditionally played by two women singing face-to-face in a contest to see who could outlast the other. Christian missionaries banned katajjaq for decades, but Ayalik and Mackay are part of a resurgence that started in the 1980s as the Inuit reclaimed their culture.

#2

The sisters grew up throat-singing, one-upping each other and competing with their cousins. But as they got older they started to understand the impact of colonization on the form and its political resonance. They began to take it more seriously, seeking out teachers who could impart the traditional knowledge.

#3

At the end of November 2019, PIQSIQ surprised everyone by releasing a Christmas album. But true to its title, Quviasugvik: In Search of Harmony, the collection of songs takes the colonial winterscape on. With ethereal and sometimes mournful strains, the music navigates the complicated relationship Indigenous people have with the holiday tradition introduced by missionaries.

#4

Tiffany Ayalik just coproduced the documentary Food for the Rest of Us, which is showing at this year’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival, streaming online starting May 6. She collaborated on the project with director and coproducer Caroline Cox; the pair had started working together a few years ago on a small northern cable-TV show called Wild Kitchen. They travelled throughout the Northwest Territories and featured people who were closely connected to their food through hunting, trapping, growing, fishing, or foraging.

#5

A few weeks ago the pair got their anti-COVID jab, spurring their new video “Vaccination Jab”. Check it out below: it’s a great introduction to the kind of thrilling energy these two can build with a looper and their voices. Not to mention their love of all things black lace.

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