Indigenous throat-singing duo PIQSIQ—consisting of Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay—want to talk about the weather, but it’s not just small talk. The word “piqsiq” means a specific type of weather phenomenon where the wind blows the snow upwards from the ground, so it looks like the snow is falling upwards into the sky; Ayalik says that the two of them have always been profoundly impacted by dramatic weather.
“We’ve spent a lot of time growing up on the land, and spent months and months in the bush with our families when we were younger, and experiencing the power of really dramatic weather has always had a pretty profound impact on us as artists, as well,” she says.
This seemingly unnatural weather phenomenon was the heart of the duo’s own sense of identity.
“We resonate with this kind of thing that doesn’t seem like a natural thing that we’d be doing, and when we think about what it means to be Inuit in 2022, there are many different ways to be Inuk in today’s context,” says Mackay. “Even if we’re going against the grain, and even if we’re falling or floating in a way that people think we shouldn’t be, in a way that people are used to seeing the snow go, it is still snow, and we are still Inuk.”
Ayalik says that the two women grew up throat singing, but it was only upon maturing that they were able to understand the greater cultural history and impact of the practice.
“We grew up throat singing as children, it was a way for us to pass the time, it was a way for us to entertain ourselves when we were out camping for long periods of time and the batteries in our Walkman ran out, so it’s a fun way for us to connect and have a sister bond time and make music, and we didn’t really think of it as a big political thing and a big deal, it’s just something that we always did,” she says. “It wasn’t until we were in our 20s that we really started to understand the place of throat singing in our history, in our family’s history, and also culturally… We began to really see this in a new light and began to embrace it, not only as an art form for us that we’re constantly evolving in and experimenting with, but also as a form of re-Indigenizing, and reclaiming a practice that was almost lost for Inuit communities.”
Mackay says that some of the challenges of this form of singing parallel many other forms: some are easy, and some require more practice. One way this diverges, however, is that throat singing as a duo is a dynamic and fluid practice, which can be unpredictable.
“I would say, like any kind of singing, some are really easy, and some are more operatic-level skill, and they just take a lot more practice, and everybody’s timing and style is really different,” says Mackay. “It helps when you know your partner well and can anticipate what they’re going to do next, because there’s a leader and a follower, and you only have a split second to respond, and they can change the song at a second’s notice.”
Together the duo hopes that their music will create a sense of wonder within their audience.
“I think one of the cool things about our style is that it’s lyricless, and we leave a lot of room for people to interpret as they will, so we perform improvisationally true to its original form, we add a lot of lyrical elements that are our own style, and it’s kind of ethereal, it’s a little bit otherworldly,” says Mackay. “We like to leave people with wondering, and whatever they need, I hope that they take away.”
PIQSIQ
7 pm Wednesday, October 12
$32 student tickets,
UVic Farquhar Auditorium
uvic.ca/farquhar/index.php