Piqsiq

With roots in the remote roadless regions of the Northwest Territories, sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay are part of a renaissance of Inuit culture, restoring respect for the spiritual values deemed evil and oppressed by colonial authoritarianism. The sisters grew up practising the Inuit throat singing art known as katajjaq, a game to vocalise everyday sounds – from running beside a dog-sled to watching seal fins boiling in the pot – into improvised songs. Becoming older and aware of the Inuit struggle led them to study katajjaq not only as music, but as a radical, political act of decolonization, and Piqsiq was formed not only to celebrate Inuit culture but also to champion its presence in the wider world, improvising multi-layered vocals with live-looping technology, creating sonorous, spontaneous compositions from the deep-rooted themes of katajjaq.