NWT duo PIQSIQ will play Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday alongside singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark.
The concert spotlights artists who have played roles in elevating Inuit identity on the global stage.
Chan Centre director T Patrick Carrabré said the artists have recently impressed Vancouver crowds independently, yet the upcoming show will provide fans the experience of seeing both performances in one night.
Aglukark, a Canadian icon, will take the audience through a musical journey of her acclaimed career so far.
“We’re looking forward to just sharing a bit of the timeline through the albums, so it’s a little bit of everything released to date,” said Aglukark, who mixes Inuit folk, country and pop in her music.
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April marks the 30th anniversary of the release of This Child, Aglukark’s debut album, which landed her a Juno, making her the first Inuk artist to win that award. She has now recorded 10 albums, earning three additional Junos.
Aglukark has also written two children’s books, earned a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement and is an officer of the Order of Canada. In 2025 she released her memoir, Kihiani.
“You know, the music business itself 30, 35 years ago was this incredible machine that was quite a beast … it’s a machine that, once it starts to roll, it rolls like crazy and you’re just hanging on for dear life,” said Aglukark of her three decades in the business.
“At that time, you didn’t really get a breather. You don’t get to sit back and just take it all in, especially as an Inuk or Indigenous artist at that time. You’re just fighting to hold on to the space that you’ve just acquired.
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“PIQSIQ and I are both from the Inuit community, but to hear them and the incredible courage with which they move forward with their sounds and creating sounds and exploring, I think that’s so important now – to have a duo, any duo, any group, anywhere representing any Indigenous group with young people watching [the] possibilities.”
PIQSIQ comprises sisters Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Ayalik, 2026 Juno nominees for their album Legends. The word piqsiq means a windstorm, conjuring in Inuktitut the image of snow falling back up toward the sky.
“The thing that we all love about what they do is that their music is entirely improvised,” said Jarrett Martineau, head curator at the Chan Centre.
“They use live loops. Every concert you see from them, you will never see the same concert twice, which is amazing.”
