Talking Stick

@ The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival

This year, Full Circle is co-presenting with Coastal Jazz & Blues Society to feature Indigenous musical artists at TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival.


The annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is the largest music festival in Vancouver producing over 300 concerts at about 30 venues over a two week period. The festival brings together international, national and local jazz talent and emerging artists and also hosts a variety of programs including outdoor improvisations in the park.


Come and enjoy entertainment from Talking Stick artists performing during the Jazz Festival on Granville Island and other locations throughout Vancouver. See our schedule for more details.


Events are hosted by Nyla Carpentier (Jun 24), Jordan Waunch (Jul 1) and Suzette Amaya (Jul 3).

Festival Schedule

december, 2023

DJ KoaKeA x
DJ Keilani Rose

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: Free

What do you get with a Sagittarius and a Leo on stage? Only Hawaii’s fire goddess Pele can really say. Some might compare the flames to that of hot sauce on mac ‘n cheese, or the hair flip of your idol as they walk by. Expect a dance party featuring tracks from local BIPOC stars, Beyonce, and other [self-]indulgent brown kid anthems from the 90s and 2000s.

 

DJ KoaKeA { koh-ah-kay-ah } is KeAloha. DJ Keilani Rose is her kaikuahine nui (big sister).

Old Soul Rebel

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: $10

A powerhouse duo that puts a new shine on Southern-tinged blues rock, Old Soul Rebel was named one of Canada’s best new bands by CBC Radio. Inspired by their Black and First Nations cultures, Chelsea D.E. Johnson and Lola Whyte’s revelatory collaboration is vivid, upbeat, and compellingly gritty.

 

Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

JB The First Lady

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: $10

A member of the Nuxalk and Onondaga Nations, Vancouver-based hip hop/spoken-word artist, beat-boxer, cultural dancer, and youth educator Jerilynn Webster—aka JB The First Lady—upholds an essential oral history tradition while confronting urgent issues like residential schools and missing and murdered Indigenous women.

 

Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

DJ O Show

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver
Tickets: Free

Orene Askew, aka DJ O Show, brings energy and expertise to every event she DJ’s and hosts. Coming from a diverse background, O Show is driven by her passion. She is Afro-Indigenous and a proud member of the Squamish Nation. Feeling as though she stood out in a unique way, she embraced both her cultural backgrounds and incorporates the teachings she has learned into everything she does. DJ O Show has experience teaching with an inspired approach. She is an inspirational speaker, having traveled across the country to bring ambition and drive to all generations, and is a former member of Squamish Nation Council.

Handsome Tiger

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: Free

Handsome Tiger is an Anishinaabe Métis, North African music producer/dj from Turtle Island, born and residing in Vancouver BC. His production blends traditional sounds from his culture alongside other
indigenous sounds, interwoven into the contemporary sounds of electronic bass music today.

Francis Baptiste

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: $10

Echoes of early-2000s indie-rock inhabit Francis Baptiste’s arching, melodic debut album Snəqsilxʷ (Family). From the Osoyoos Indian Band, the Vancouver-based singer/songwriter features songs in N̓syilxčn̓, an endangered language spoken fluently by roughly 50 people. For Baptiste, his journey in learning the language—and working to preserve and promote this vital heritage—began with Snəqsilxʷ, and is redoubled with each affecting live performance.

 

Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

DJ Kookum

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver
Tickets: Free

Cheyanna Kootenhayoo AKA Kookum is a DJ and multi media maker from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, and Cold Lake First Nations, their maternal Denesuline traditional territory. Based out of Vancouver BC, Kookum has been making a name for their self across the country and is no stranger in the community.

 

Kookum is an open format DJ inspired by EDM and Hip Hop music. This diverse-mix-diva is a force on the decks and always keeps the party hype, fresh, and unpredictable.

 

Kookum tours nationally and internationally with the Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Holds down weekly DJ residencies. Facilitates videography and DJ workshops, operates sound and lighting for community dance parties, and works with youth as a DJ mentor.

DJ Paisley Eva

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: Free

Ta7talíya Paisley Eva hails from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation village of Eslha7an and is based in what is colonially known as “Vancouver”. DJ Paisley Eva has been DJing for the past 8 years and is a fixture within the Vancouver music scene. Her sets are high energy, mixing all types of music together for unforgettable sets that keep you moving.

Sister Says

Ocean Art Works Pavilion (Granville Island)

1531 Johnston St, Vancouver

Tickets: Free

Fronted by Haida/European siblings Gillian and Robert Thomson, Vancouver-based five-piece Sister Says is dreamy, eclectic, lyrically rich indie pop with an organic folk soul. “Their sound is smooth, their lyrics intelligent and their creative chemistry produces a new take on songs redolent to Annie Lennox, The Eurythmics and Everything But The Girl” (BC Musician Magazine).

DJ KeAloha

David Lam Park

1300 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver

Tickets: Free

Carrying essences of KeAloha’s mixed Indigeneity, the vast wisdoms and sounds of Black and Latinx music-cultures, and the not-so-guilty pop pleasures they grew up on, this project holds the stories of a brown, mixed-Indigenous, disabled femme. A survivor and dreamer, healer and weaver, vocalist/drummer/multi-instrumentalist KeAloha is joined by Tayler Jade vocals, Axel Loitz guitar, Emilio Suarez cello/bass, Bobby Seenandan keys, and formidable mixed cuties TBA!

PIQSIQ

Performance Works

1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver

Tickets: $37

Alternating between ancient songs and haunting new compositions, PIQSIQ draws upon Inuit throat singing traditions to create spine-tingling ambiance that transports listeners to the North and beyond. With roots in Nunavut and Yellowknife, sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay began singing katajjaq in childhood. Incorporating improvised looping into their live performances, PIQSIQ fuses the sounds of their forebears with a singular vision that’s both modern and otherworldly. Double bill with Kee Avil.   Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance

Missy D

Ocean Art Works Pavilion

1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver

Tickets: $10

This year’s Full Circle and Coastal Jazz’s co-Feature Artist (with KeAloha), Missy D is a fierce bilingual femcee from the intersection of Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Zimbabwe. Singing and rapping since age 11, Missy fuses her musical heritage with hip hop, soul, and R&B. Her dizzyingly diverse sense of genre is matched by her stellar band: Ian Cardona and Yato Noukoussi drums, Vinay Lobo guitar, Dave Taylor bass, and Sejal Lal violin/vocals.

 

Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance

PRIMARY Trio

The Ironworks

235 Alexander St., Vancouver

Tickets: Free

Since their 2019 debut at the Museum of Anthropology’s International Women’s Day, decolonization has been at the core of the femme-fluid and racialized PRIMARY Trio’s relationship-building on stolen territories. Rooted in Black American improvised music traditions, Suin Park piano, KeAloha drums, and Feven Kidane bass/trumpet create a shared dialect that begins with listening and spreads outward in sonic story-shaping.

 

Presented in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance.

Hosts

Suzette Amaya

HOST

Suzette Amaya is Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw – Cree, Nisga’a, Coast Salish pf the GwaSala-Nakwaxda’xw Nation, living on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations known as Vancouver.

 

She is a reality TV star, seen on Big Brother Canada Season One and Back In The On The Mighty Fraser (APTN), and winner of online reality TV show SEQUESTER 5.0.

 

Previously Hip Hop Host for CBC Radio 3 AB-ORIGINALS, Suzette Amaya is proud to promote Aboriginal hip hop/urban and pop artists!

 

Suzette Amaya created & produces/hosts the award-winning radio show ThinkNDN on CFRO 100.5fm, is owner of SAMAYA Entertainment, and manager of award-winning artist Joey Stylez. (https://www.joeystylez.com)

 

Touring to over 500 First Nations communities across Canada, Suzette has been on the road with Joey Stylez and her Husband DJ Staniml with the wellness tour Waniskawin AWAKE & RISE.

Nyla Carpentier

HOST

Nyla Carpentier (Tahltan, Kaska, French, Scottish) is a multifaceted performing artist currently residing in North Vancouver. She is a new mom, a powwow dancer and workshop facilitator. Theatre acting highlights: Battle of the Birds (Savage Society), The Flats/Les Flats (Prairie Theatre Exchange and Theatre Cercle Moliere), The Berlin Blues and Ipperwash (The Blyth Theatre Festival), Busted Up: A Yukon Story (Openpit Theatre), God’s Lake (Castlereigh Productions) and Nyla performed her new solo Dissection of a… Mixed Heritage Woman (Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festival) Drawing on her experience as someone of mixed heritage – her goal is to blend the past, present and create new works for the future.

Jordan Waunch

HOST

Jordan Waunch is a Vancouver based Métis performing artist, public speaker, and emerging filmmaker. A graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Film And Television Production Program, Jordan has gone on to build a career as a professional casting associate at the Vancouver based casting facility Studio 3 Media. In 2019 he directed the project “Sisters Of Sorrow” through StoryHive’s first ever Indigenous Storyteller Edition, created the Indigenous language documentary “Seeking Our Stories” which was supported by the Indigenous Screen Office and Netflix through their cultural mentorship program, and is currently producing the Queer Indigenous horror film “Terror/Forming”. His most recent directing project “Shadow Of The Rougarou” is playing on APTN’s streaming service Lumi.