There is a moment in Inuit throat singing — katajjaq — where two performers lock eyes, standing face to face, exchanging rhythmic sounds in an intimate call and response that builds until one of them laughs or loses breath. It is ancient, joyful, and unlike anything else in the world. For decades, it was outlawed. Tonight, it is very much alive.
On April 12th the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts presents an evening that is as historically significant as it is musically extraordinary — a rare double bill featuring two of Canada’s most groundbreaking Inuit artists on the same night: legendary singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark and acclaimed throat-singing duo PIQSIQ.
Each performing their own separate program, together they represent the remarkable breadth of northern Inuit artistry, spanning generations, genres, and the full spectrum of what it means to reclaim a culture through music.
Susan Aglukark needs little introduction — though the full weight of her legacy is worth pausing on. The first Inuk artist to ever win a JUNO Award, she arrives at the Chan Centre to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her landmark album This Child, the record that changed the landscape of Indigenous music in this country. In the three decades since its release, Aglukark has written and recorded ten albums, earned three more JUNOs, authored two children’s books, received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, and become an Officer of the Order of Canada. She is also the founder of the Arctic Rose Project, providing Inuit and Northern Indigenous youth with safe after-school spaces, and co-founder of the Aboriginal Literacy Project. Most recently, she released her memoir Kihiani in 2025 — a deeply personal reflection on a life lived in service of both art and community.
PIQSIQ — sisters Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Ayalik — occupy a different but equally compelling artistic space. Nominated for a 2026 JUNO for Global Music Album of the Year for their album Legends, the duo performs katajjaq using only their voices and live looping techniques, conjuring evolving soundscapes that the Vancouver Sun described as “riveting… and truly haunting.” Their name tells you everything about their artistic vision — in Inuktitut, piqsiq is a windstorm so powerful it sends snow falling back up towards the sky. That same sense of natural force, beauty, and defiance of expectation runs through every performance. In reclaiming a tradition that was once outlawed and nearly lost, PIQSIQ are doing something far greater than performing — each spellbinding show is an act of cultural resilience and joy.
That these two distinctive voices share a bill on April 12 feels like more than a concert booking. It feels like a statement — about the vitality of Inuit culture, the power of artistic reclamation, and the extraordinary talent that has always existed in Canada’s north, waiting to be heard.
Susan Aglukark and PIQSIQ perform at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on April 12, 2026 at 7:30pm. Tickets and information are available at chancentre.com.
Last modified: March 10, 2026
