In Canada, June is both Pride Month and National Indigenous History Month, and both of these celebrations came to an intersection with the evening’s host, Chelazon Leroux. Chelazon is a Dene drag performer, comedian, model, and activist who introduced evening’s performers with comedy and heartfelt conversations about their two identities (Indigenous and two-spirit). Chelazon’s mid-show drag performance was one of high energy and high entertainment value.

The room was filled with people speaking an impressive diversity of languages, all dressed to the nines, many in traditional wear, sporting ribbon skirts, beaded accessories, and impeccably made jewellery. The voices on stage were equally impressive, often showcasing vocal range that reaches for the inner layers of the soul.

Northern Cree were the first to take the stage. This powwow and Round Dance drum and singing group formed in 1982 in Maskwacis, Alberta. Many attendees were familiar with the group, embracing the tradition with a Round Dance to “Red Skin Gal”. While the full powwow group can reach as many as 14 participants tonight we got to see five, including one of the founding brothers, Charlie Wood of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation.

Fiddler from Manitoba, Alex Kusturok, was up next. Accompanied by two pianos, Alex brought the room to their feet dancing to Métis fiddle music, sharing dance steps with the crowd and tapping along himself.

And then there was Sara Curruchich, whose performance seemed to be a surprise for all. Guatemalan singer and songwriter of Kaqchikel descent Sara, sings in Spanish and the Kaqchikel language, and for this evening, she tried her best to integrate some English. Joined on stage by a Xylophone player, drummer, and bass, Sara brought her own flavour of revolutionary, Indigenous spirit to Toronto’s TD Music Hall. “Being a woman in Guatemala is an act of resistance,” her bio states, and so naturally, much of her music focuses on female empowerment. Sara’s performance not only inspired a second Round Dance, but got everyone to the front of the stage, including the elders.

Canada’s national treasure Tanya Tagaq closed out the evening. After introducing her drummer and cellist, she explained her performance to the room. Unlike the traditional throat singing duet (as seen with Silla and Rise last year), Tanya performs mixed vocalisations solo. “This might get weird,” she said with the sweetest voice, “but there are two exits, if you need them,” the room chuckled. On that note, the sweetness was over, and an unearthly vocal performance began. Tagaq’s vocal and voice range is absolutely astonishing, it’s like she is hunted and hunting all at the same time. Moth curled, eyes closed, hands reaching out into the distance, her presence completely fills the space.

The opening night gala always serves as a sampler of what’s to come at IIMS. Each night, multiple venues bring tighter artists of all genres from hip hop to folk across the city’s independent venues, making it an ideal event to open up your sound palette, even if just a little bit.

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This year’s lineup will once again feature rappers, songwriters, DJs, singers, dancers, and other performers from South America and the South Pacific. The Summit’s 2025 theme is Bemaazhid E-Niigaanzijig, an Anishinaabe phrase which means “Soaring Together as Leaders.”

The theme orients this year’s program with a mindset of ‘we are all stronger together’ and the collective work of raising and uniting the global Indigenous community. Driven by the Summit’s commitment to collaboration and mutual benefit as the foundation to a thriving Indigenous music ecology, Bemaazhid E-Niigaanzijig sets a table with space for everyone.

The 2025 IIMS lineup welcomes emerging and iconic talent alike, artists who carry traditions forward and artists who shape new futures altogether. Artists working in experimental, soundscape-building worlds include Montreal’s Anachnid, the collaborative project ASKO, Tahltan and Tlingit ambient/synth/spoken word artist Edzi’u and Winnipeg’s avant-pop KWIAT.

Opening Night Gala performers include Tanya Tagaq, Northern Cree, Alex Kusturok and Sara Curruchich, with a special appearance by Elder Gerard Sagassige and Nimkii Osawamick. The Opening Night Gala takes place June 2, 2025 at TD Music Hall.

More information and tickets on indigenousmusicsummit.com.

Cover photo: Soleil Launière, image courtesy of the artist

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IIMS is the world’s foremost Indigenous music gathering, contributing to the overall growth and success of the Indigenous music ecosystem.

The Opening Night Gala performers include Tanya Tagaq, Northern Cree, Alex Kusturok and Sara Curruchich, with a special appearance by Elder Gerard Sagassige and Nimkii Osawamick.

The 2025 IIMS lineup welcomes emerging and iconic talent, including experimental artists like Montreal’s Anachnid, the collaborative project ASKO, Tahltan and Tlingit ambient/synth/spoken word artist Edzi’u and Winnipeg’s avant-pop KWIAT.

The hip hop lineup will bring together performances by artists and DJs like Saskatoon’s Big Tones, Mi’kmaq rapper Wolf Castle, Halifax producer/DJ Matty Galaxy, acclaimed producer/pop-trap Mattmac, Australian duo FLEWNT & INKABEE and Aotearoa rapper/poet MELODOWNZ. This year’s lineup also includes Treaty 1 DJ The Kaptain and Boiler Room-approved Lady Shaka, from Aotearoa.

The 2025 lineup also features international artists from the West Coast, Oceania, Chile, Ecuador and Fiji, including G̱a̱mksimoon, presenting music rooted in the cultural heritage of the Ts’msyen people, Andean singer Carmen Lienqueoand Fiji’s RakoPasefika.

From pop to Powwow, hip hop to funk to folk and beyond, the IIMS 2025 offers an utterly unique immersion into the global Indigenous music scene.

Find the complete lineup and register for the IIMS 2025 here.

Cover image: Tanya Tagaq. Thomas van der Zaag/Courtesy of the artist.

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The Opening Night Gala was an impressive showcase of what the week had in store with a curated lineup of live performances that included artists from around the world playing music across a wide range of genres. All speakers and participants shared their languages with the attendees, embracing identities and celebrating resilience, here, on Turtle Island

The showcase was hosted by Chelazon Leroux, a drag performer, comedian, model, and activist who competed on season 3 of Canada’s Drag Race. Throughout the evening Chelazon Leroux kept the audience entertained and informed. One of the showcase slots was a dynamic performance by Chelazon Leroux who left it all on the dancefloor.

First up were Manitou Mkwa Singers (Spirit Bear Singers) from the Mississaugas of the Credit. The complete ensemble is a mother, sis daughters and one son, for this performance, we had the pleasure to see four of the women perform. Dressed in ribbon skirts they performed beautiful pow-wow and round dance songs using just their voices and a hand drum. 

The artist to follow this wonderful traditional performance was Joshua Q (Q for Qaumariaq) who performs soul and blues solo and with The Trade-Offs. With his guitar in hand, accompanied by a drummer, Joshua shared his deep, rusty voice and lyrical songs with the vibing room in both Inuktitut and English. Despite losing two strings during his performance Joshua persevered with laidback triumph.

The Red River Ramblers continued the instrumentally-heavy streak. The Red River Ramblers perform Métis fiddle music, the kind of tunes that make you want to kick your shoes off and dance and some people did just that. This was a high-energy dance-along performance perfectly timed to reenergize the room.

Silla and Rise are another Ontario-based music duo (Cynthia Pitsiulak (Kimmirut, NU) and Charlotte Qamaniq (Iglulik, NU)) who blend traditional Inuit throat-singing with futuristic dance floor beats. The duo started slowly, asking the audience to close their eyes and listen to gate “Goose Song,” taking in the sounds of migration before picking up the pace. Silla and Rise create upbeat music, energized by electronic production layers, journeying in peaks and valleys encouraging the head bops and eventually full-body swings (see “Atausiq – One”).

Swedish-Sámi joik singer and hip hop musician artist Maxida Märak was up next and to say that this performance was an adventure would be an understatement. Transitioning from belly-deep joik vocals to lyrically heavy rap Maxida showed her range with impressive faculty. The ever-changing parallels of sound paired with her comfortable stage appearance made for a memorable performance.

BC’s Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Darren “Young D” Metz and Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce) closed out the night with their entertaining and danceable hip-hop showcase. Kicking things off with “Hot Planet” they called for the audience to join them at the front as they eloquently worked through their repertoire including brand new, never-before-heard songs and tracks from the Polaris Music Prize nominee records The Average Savage, TRAPLINE, and I’M GOOD, HBU?.

The opening night IIMS Gala was a carefully curated showcase of Indigenous talent and musical range highlighting artists from around the world and across multiple genres. The week that followed continued to shine the light on an impressive lineup of global Indigenous artists in venues across the city and we certainly cannot wait to see them all return for another IIMS addition in 2025.

All images by Shay Markowitz, courtesy of the International Indigenous Music Summit 

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