Poster by Najeeba Ahmed (@ajeebsir)
Pique is back with its largest edition yet! Join us for a joint-birthday bash to celebrate Debaser's 10th anniversary and SAW's 50th anniversary with groundbreaking performances, art exhibitions, screenings, workshops, and more.
The occasion triples as the Arts Court Open House Party, bringing together the building's resident cultural organizations to animate every corner of Ottawa's most vibrant cultural hub for an afternoon of free building-wide family-oriented activities.
Pique summer edition features 30 artists across 10 stages and multiple exhibition spaces, indoors and outdoors. The outdoor Art Market returns to Daly Ave with 25+ artist and food vendors, and for the first time at Pique, we are bringing live music back to the neighbouring Jail Hostel (the site of Debaser's first-ever show 10 years ago)!
Admission is PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN with a suggested contribution of $25-$50.
To purchase a ticket below or above the suggested sliding scale, please register for our pay-what-you-can ticket program.
The event is ALL AGES and licensed.
Visit thisispique.com for more info.
FEATURING...
Lido Pimienta
Bear Witness (of The Halluci Nation)
Colloboh
Frost Children*
EYIBRA
Aïcha Bastien N'Diaye
Anaïs Cardot
Jairus Sharif
OK Naledi
THEA
Hug Mosh*
Bonnie Doon
Matt Miwa
Kathryn Patricia
Go Long
Annie Socoria
Album
Backseat Dragon
Fireball Kid*
N'nerjie
Siaka Diabate
KAY-fayb
Everett Rama*
13assa & Shaye A
and the music of Raven Chacon performed by Quatuor Bozzini
DJ Trills^
DR. Letti^
VIIBZ^
DJ PC^
* curated by Many Place Money Party
^ curated by Amashowza
GUEST CURATORS
Many Place Money Party
We Are The Medium
Amashowza
ART MARKET VENDORS
Baby Marty Ceramics
Erin Besseau art
BoutADream
rugmommy
flo. Literary Magazine
Soft But Sturdy
george dales
Zineb Allaoui
Sasha B
cslackdesign
Amery Press
Linh Nguyen
Nosy Mag
BEING Studio
Ottawa Design Club
Madeleine Merritt
Richard Drake Leather
Trash Trays
Kanani Pots
Fart in a Hat
Ubuntu Art House
Ottawa Art Gallery
Ottawa Arts Council
Possible Worlds
Fringe
SAW
+ the Pique Boutique with artist merchandise
FOOD
SarapSisters
Sugar&Co
Little Jo Berrys
The BBQ Joint
Chef Ric's
For a plain-text version of the schedule, click here.
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Pique takes place on the stolen land of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. If you support our programming, please consider also donating to a local Indigenous organization or fundraiser. Learn more about this land acknowledgement and find educational resources and ways to support at www.debaser.ca/land-acknowledgement
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Please note the following health and safety policies that apply to audience members at Pique winter edition:
Wear a mask over the mouth and nose at all times when not eating, drinking or performing. Free KN94 masks will be available to audience members while supplies last.
Wash and sanitize your hands often. Hand sanitizer will be placed at all box offices, bars, merch tables, food vendor area, and in large supply around the event.
Before attending the event, please do a self-assessment of your health. Are you experiencing symptoms of any communicable virus or illness? If yes, please do not come to the event site.
For your information, we will also be taking the following measures to prevent the spread of infection:
HEPA air filtration units designed for larger rooms will be placed in Club SAW, the Studio and the Alma Duncan salon.
Signage reminding people to wear a mask will be placed in all venues, at bars, merch tables, and box offices.
Stage crews will be supplied with disinfectant wipes/spray and asked to sanitize microphones between performances.
Free COVID-19 rapid tests for any artist, worker or volunteer available on request, while supplies last.
For any artist or worker who must cancel their participation in the event due to a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, Debaser will honour 50% of their agreed-upon payment. If there are any artist cancellations related to COVID-19 or another infectious illness, we ask that audience members keep in mind our policy to honour 50% of payments when considering making a refund request.
Attendees are expected to respect one another. Violence, aggression, oppressive behaviour or language, or bullying will not be tolerated. If you are currently implicated in an accountability process, please ensure you are respecting the space and well-being of those your actions have affected before joining this space virtually or in-person. If Debaser's staff and/or Board are made aware of any behaviour that violates our safety policy, the person(s) perpetuating this behaviour will be asked to leave immediately. We reserve the right to intervene and/or remove ANY person(s) in the space who are creating or contributing to an unsafe environment.
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Entrances are accessible by ramp, and indoor spaces are accessible by automated doors and elevator to all floors. Wheelchair accessible, gender neutral washrooms are available throughout the building.
Click the following links for accessibility and visitor information:
Lido Pimienta
Lido Pimienta's new album 'Miss Colombia,' the anticipated follow-up to 'La Papessa,' which was awarded the Polaris Music Prize in 2017, is available now. The Colombian-born, Toronto-based global beats trailblazer recorded the album in her home studio, with some additional recording done in the historic Colombian town of San Basilio de Palenque. Miss Colombia boasts 11 new and original songs that boldly celebrate Lido’s ecstatic musical hybridity of electronic meets cumbia, and is at once defiant and delicate, exploratory and confrontational. All of the songs were written and arranged by Lido, and she co-produced the album with Matt Smith aka Prince Nifty.
The album title was partly inspired by the Miss Universe gaffe in 2015, when Steve Harvey mistakenly awarded the crown to Miss Colombia instead of Miss Philippines. It caused Lido to reflect on the anti-blackness she's experienced, and how she was viewed as an outsider in adolescence, a "weird artistic tomboy" for not adhering to the expected norms projected upon her. Lido - an Afro-Indigenous, queer feminist - created Miss Colombia as a canvas for introspection, with pieces about love (and self-love), and loss. Other songs confront divisive politics in Colombia, Indigenous inequality and racism, and ultimately to bring her closer to home.
Musically it digs deeply into the history of Afro-Latin musics, from Palenque to cumbia - styles that Lido embraced after being introduced to Sexteto Tabala, one of the most representative musical expressions of the African communities in Colombia (who are also featured on the album). The album also features Bomba Estereo’s Li Saumet. Lido has an affinity for acts like A Tribe Called Red and Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, but her work also resonates with British-Sri Lankan rapper MIA and she draws unabashed inspiration from the New York-bred Dominican-Trinidadian rap queen Cardi B.
Bear Witness
Colloboh
Colloboh (a portmanteau of Collins Oboh) is a Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based experimental producer and composer who has spent the past several years cultivating genre-spanning modular wizardry. A self-taught synthesist, Colloboh’s DIY recording diaries (still archived on Instagram) quickly amassed a dedicated online following, eventually catching the eye of Leaving Records founder, MatthewDavid, who wasted no time tapping the then-twenty-six-year-old to perform at the monthly Leaving showcase, Listen to Music Outside In The Daylight Under a Tree. In 2021, Colloboh permanently relocated to Los Angeles from Baltimore, dedicating himself to music full-time, and quickly becoming a fixture of the city’s vibrant experimental scene. Whereas Colloboh’s debut EP Entity Relation (released that same year) dove headlong into club beats, Saana Sahel, out May 5, 2023 on Leaving Records, showcases the breadth of the fledgling composer’s ambitions.
Frost Children
Frost Children is the project of NYC-based siblings Lulu and Angel Prost. They've released multiple full-length projects since 2020 that combine and transcend genre. They’ve been called "obnoxious, self-obsessed, painfully stylish, convinced of a sense of greatness they've yet to earn.” Their forthcoming album "SPEED RUN" is out now on True Panther Records.
EYIBRA
EYIBRA, is a Ukrainian-American multimedia and multidisciplinary artist. Recently commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with their collective MUXX, EYIBRA has also collaborated with artist Marina Abramovic, and has been an artist in residence at BRIC Brooklyn, the Barbican Centre London, National Sawdust NYC, and has shown their work at the Kennedy Center Washington D.C., Pace Gallery London, Laboratorio de Arte Alameda Mexico City, the Public Theatre NYC, Southbank Centre London, Fondation Beyeler Basel, Reykjavik Arts Festival, and FABRIKA CCI Moscow, among many others. In 2018-19, they traveled throughout Western Ukraine and the Carpathian Mountains researching ritual singing and local traditions mentored by artist Mariana Sadovska, which culminated in a series of performances at Lviv MozART Festival in 2019.
Their work has been featured in such platforms as the LA Times, Harper’s Bazaar, the Independent, NPR, BBC Radio, Kaltblut Magazine, and the New Yorker Magazine.
Aïcha Bastien N'Diaye
Anaïs Cardot
Anaïs Cardot is a French and Gabonese artist currently based in Ottawa, Canada. She grew up as part of an artistic family, listening to jazz, R&B, reggae, and indie music on a regular basis. Her father was the biggest influence in Anaïs’ life, inspiring her to pursue a career in music. She started making music in her bedroom, putting songs that she recorded with her earphones on Soundcloud, and eventually expanding to other social and music platforms. She is a versatile artist who loves making meaningful music that makes others feel good and connects people together. Anaïs hopes that her music will teleport people into her thoughts and feelings, touching the soul of anyone who listens to it.
Jairus Sharif
Jairus Sharif is a Black Canadian multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer and producer based in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. His work involves spontaneous improvisation and live composition to create music that deals with healing, self-understanding, and personal freedom, at the intersection of class and technology.
As a self-taught sound artist, Sharif has generated a stream of passionate and unclassifiable recordings that forge unprecedented connections between hip-hop abstraction, mysticism, and outsider jazz. His music offers a glimpse into an ongoing hermetic journey via soulful, contradictory statements, that dwell beneath a blustery surface.
OK Naledi
OK Naledi is an Afro House music project created by Queer, Motswana Canadian, musician and producer Naledi Sunstrum."
We are an Afro House Queer group that performs music that features traditional sub-Saharan clean guitar lines, classic deep bass, deep groove acoustic drums and beats that drive that iconic Afro House tempo.
We have been doing music independently for over 10 years but have been working on and releasing music as OK Naledi since February 2022. In this short timeline we've had some incredible support and encouraging opportunities: performing at Bluesfest, Axé WorldFest, Capital Pride, HOPE SummerFest as well as being nominated for the 2022 Capital Music Awards newcomer of the year award. We're proud to be planting our feet in the Afro House music genre where there is very little Queer-women artist representation and are eager to keep pushing forward with this musical journey. We recently released our album, BONES, to a sold-out crowd at the National Arts Centre and are currently working on a fall tour.
THEA
Growing up on R&B, Electronic and Rap, Filipina-Canadian songwriter and vocalist THEA possesses a sound that is heavily influenced by the nostalgia of the late 2000’s to 2010’s, drawing inspiration from artists such as Alina Baraz, Kehlani, and BANKS. She continues to create music within the Ottawa-based trio Gold Tongues, while pursuing her own style as a soloist. In 2021, she released her debut EP ‘chosen blood’ on all streaming platforms. Her signature lies in her dynamic, sultry vocals and witty pen, raising anticipation for upcoming group and solo projects.
Hug Mosh
Somewhere between the short lived ecstasy of a fresh stick of gum and a social anxiety fueled panic attack lives Ottawa's resident hyperpuker HUG MOSH. Comprised of producer, vocalist, and DJ Fabien Pleur alongside VJ Alex Jakimczuk, the multimedia project blends bubblegum synths and frenetic drum patterns with dense, introspective lyrics, and live-glitched visuals to form a uniquely wonky, shiny, and somber take on modern pop music. HUG MOSH combines bleeding edge experimental pop with heavy influence from the hip-hop, punk, ska, and hardcore scenes they grew up in to make a sound that is both nostalgic and futuristic. HUG MOSH is what happens when you coat your intrusive thoughts in candy. With the release of their first project 'Ontario Hyperpuke' in 2022, HUG MOSH are currently working on a string of fresh and exploratory singles for summer 2023.
Bonnie Doon with Matt Miwa
Bonnie Doon is an Ottawa-based post-punk five-piece drawing inspiration from spooky beaches and pizza joints. Their debut LP Dooner Nooner was released in 2017 on vinyl via Record Centre Records and on cassette c/o Bruised Tongue. Dooner Nooner contains nine original, sludgy, surfy tunes inspired by actual events: such as the struggle of making it to brunch for noon and how it feels to brave a waterslide in a bikini. Their 2014 sold-out EP on Bruised Tongue Records An Affair to Imagine saw the debut of their west coast/punk/new wave/indie/surf of the formative days of Teenage Head, the Viletones, Flipper and the B52’s. Hear Bonnie Doon’s featured singles on Bruised Tongue’s Afterburners series and The Famine’s Pentagon Black Compilations and feature appearances on Weird Canada, Photogmusic, Ottawa Showbox, Ottawa Life, AuxTV, CitySlangRadio, Braido, TheLeSigh and Exclaim! Gracing festival stages in Ottawa (Bluesfest, Arboretum Festival, Ottawa Explosion Festival, Westfest), Guelph (KazooFest), Halifax (Obey Convention), Meaford (Electric Eclectics), Montreal (Coolfest), Calgary (Sled Island), and Detroit (BFF Fest). 2019 saw the release of a rippin music video for the sax-infused summer party jam “Panty Twister".
Kathryn Patricia
As a seasoned performer, speaker, presenter and workshop facilitator, Kathryn has given masterclasses at Carleton University and was a speaker for the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning Convergence Conference. As a performing artist and educator, Ms. Cobbler is an artist on the MASC Artist roster and Teaching Artist at the National Arts Centre. As a composer, Kathryn has been featured in the Boston based Concert series, Castle of Our Skin’s an organization that celebrates BIPOC musicians and composers, which resulted in the world premier of her piece A Home Called ‘Wander’. Kathryn continues to be inspired by the next generation of composers and improvisers, having served as an adjudicator for the Canadian Music Showcase and NUMUS Emerging Improvisor competition. Kathryn Patricia’s most recent multidisciplinary collaboration was through an artist in residency with the Ottawa Dance Directive composing and collaborating for the premiere of Dream & True North envisioned and choreographed by Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson.
Backseat Dragon
Backseat Dragon is Ottawa's yuckiest three-piece band. Evolving from an indie/emo acoustic-solo project, the band consists of Carrie Blair on guitar, Cole Hallman on bass, and Sean Lundy on the drums. With their full-length album coming out this summer: the trio is not only ready to rock but also ready to roll.
Fireball Kid
Fireball Kid is the mercurial party-pop persona of Montreal/New Brunswick’s Colin Ratchford. His music orbits around kindred east coast kitchen rager values and how the most intimate communications of emotion can be made amidst a rowdy celebration. Chirping synthesizers, bleacher-stomp gang vocals, erratic dance beats and gnarled guitars come together to cast a shared frantic feeling of hope and togetherness over crowds of sweaty partygoers.
N'nerjie
N’nerjie is a Black queer Ottawa-based singer-songwriter, originally from Toronto ON. She found refuge in music at an early age as a safe way to express her truths and make sense of the world around her. In 2022, she re-released her debut EP "heavy", which can be found on all streaming platforms. Aside from working on her own music, she has been blessed to have done background vocals for Alessia Cara at the 2016 Much Music Video Awards, as well as for CTV’S The Launch. Using her raw, sultry vocals to project the deepest parts of her soul, she is a true storyteller that hopes to take listeners on their own journey of inner-standing and healing.
Siaka Diabate
Siaka Diabate is a musician from Burkina Faso. His main instrument is the Kora, a West African harp, which he also made himself. His songs are mainly in Djoula, one of the main languages of Burkina Faso, and he loves singing about the most important thing in the world - love. Together with his group in Ottawa they combine traditional music with modern rhythms and rock the stage! Kora music is beautiful, sometimes calm and perfect for relaxing and sometimes full of energy for dancing!
KAY-fayb
KAY-fayb is sound art duo Yolande Laroche and Pierre-Luc Clement w/ guest Linsey Wellman - exploring while engaging with the performative limits and/or/without the potential of orchestral dissonance, deceptiveness, technologies, mantras and evasive concepts such as obsessions and make beliefs through structured improvised performances.
Everett Rama
Everett Rama loves art, but he lives and breathes music. From “Golden Brown” by The Stranglers, to “Sivad” by Miles Davis, there's very little he can't dig (check those songs out if you haven’t already by the way because holy sh*t). Everett began formally making music in March of 2020. His music is an eclectic blend of the genres he consumes which are then digested in his stomach, and eventually spring from his mouth anew as something else entirely. Vomit, if you will.
Since 2020, Everett’s gone on to release two EPs and three singles. He’s thrilled to announce his third EP will be released in correspondence with his Pique performance on June 10th.
13assa & Shaye A
13assa is a music producer and songwriter. His music aims to capture the wonder of experiencing the beauty that exists around him. Also a photographer, he is inspired by the world around him to tell stories of his lived experiences through sound.
Shayé is a photographer, videographer, and guitarist. Music is a way for them to tell their story with the hopes that people see themselves in it. Their visual and musical expressions serve as outlets for vulnerability and conceptual thinking. Face your story and learn to see beauty in the dark.
With a mutual love for music, art and creation in all its forms, they believe music serves as a powerful tool for self-discovery and introspection. Collaborations from local artists Salwa and Tatiana, 13assa + Shayé aim to deliver an otherworldly experience, leveraged by ethereal vocal performances and live instrumentation.
Raven Chacon
Raven Chacon is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, performer, and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation. As a solo artist, collaborator, and a member of Postcommodity (from 2009 to 2018), Chacon has exhibited, performed, or had works performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; San Francisco Electronic Music Festival; REDCAT, Los Angeles; Vancouver Art Gallery; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Borealis Festival, Seattle; SITE Santa Fe; Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; Ende Tymes Festival, New York; The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Biennial, New York; documenta 14, Athens and Kassel; Carnegie International, and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Since 2004, he has mentored more than three hundred Native high school composers in writing new string quartets for the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP). Chacon is the recipient of a United States Artists fellowship in Music, a Creative Capital award, The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation artist fellowship, the American Academy’s Berlin Prize for Music Composition, the Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award, and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Fellowship-in-Residence. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Toronto, ON.
Quatuor Bozzini
Quatuor Bozzini has been an original voice and strong advocate in new, experimental and classical music since 1999. Driving the hyper-creative Montréal scene and beyond, the quartet cultivates an ethos of risk-taking, experimentation, and collaboration, venturing boldly off the beaten track. With a rigorous eye for quality, they have nurtured a rich and diverse repertoire, regardless of trends. This has led to over 400 commissioned pieces, and some 500 premiered works. Their open, collaborative, artist-led approach has resulted in the realisation of numerous innovative and highly-praised productions, including inter-disciplinary projects with video, theatre and dance.
Depuis 1999, le Quatuor Bozzini est une voix originale à la défense des musiques nouvelles, expérimentales et classiques. Moteur de la scène hyper créative de Montréal et au-delà, le quatuor cultive une approche qui fait la part belle au risque, à l’expérimentation et la collaboration, et s’aventure hors des sentiers battus. Par leurs critères de qualité rigoureux, ils ont contribué à la création d’un répertoire diversifié qui fait fi des tendances et des modes. Au fil des ans, ils ont commandé plus de 400 pièces et en ont créé près de 500. Leur approche ouverte, collaborative et dirigée par des artistes a permis la réalisation de nombreuses productions innovantes et très appréciées, y compris des projets interdisciplinaires avec la vidéo, le théâtre et la danse.
Thank you to our Sponsors and Partners:
Pique is presented in partnership with the Arts Court, SAW, Ottawa Fringe, Digital Arts Resource Centre, the Canadian Film Institute, Artengine, and the Ottawa Dance Directive, with support from Kilam Media, Wall Sound, Dominion City Brewing Company, Saint Lo, Postering Ottawa, n.10.as, Apt613, and CKCU FM, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada under the Community Services Recovery Fund, the Government of Ontario, Canadian Heritage, the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation.
