PIQSIQ

PIQSIQ (pronounced PILKSILK) is an Inuit word for a unique kind of snowstorm where the wind makes it look like the snow is falling up to the sky. It’s an apt image that describes the magic of the piqsiq that will be at this year’s festival. 

PIQSIQ is two sisters, Kayley Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik, who grew up in Yellowknife with family and roots in the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions of Nunavut. They began learning katajjaq, traditional throat singing, helped by cassettes sent by cousins living in remote communities where the tradition was still alive. 

They soon realized they wanted more, that they were urban dwellers not living in a traditional world. While respecting the tradition, they began building on it using technology and imagination. The result is a contemporary music that is as modern as today with deep roots in a millennium-old tradition. In this they are an important part of a new generation of Indigenous artists who have taken their place in the forefront of Canadian music. 

One brilliant example of their use of tradition to embrace modernity is their version of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.  It sums up a creative vision that makes snow fall up.  

– GC