Ana Tijoux

Ana Tijoux is one of the most important Latin American rappers of all time. Born in France to Chilean parents who went into exile during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, Tijoux is an unapologetically political emcee who has captivated global audiences with her messages of empowerment. She gives voice to the marginalized, amplifying the struggles of women, migrants, and the dispossessed, fearlessly confronting injustice through her music. In Billboard’s list of the “Most Essential Spanish-Language Rappers of Yesterday and Today,” Tijoux was ranked third for her seductive rhythms, powerful rhymes, and generational influence as a female rapper who continues to break barriers.

In 2024, Tijoux released VIDA, her highly anticipated fifth studio album and first in nearly a decade. Praised as a “joyous look at grief in all its forms,” Pitchfork notes that her “unflinching optimism remains one of the most refreshing parts of her work.” With VIDA, the Latin Grammy-winner reinforces her legacy as a fearless artist that faces adversity with a smile. As she declares in the final song of the album, “If the end of the world is coming, let’s dance naked together.”

Pre-concert talk: Carmen Aguirre
7 PM in the RBC Cinema

Carmen Aguirre is an award-winning theatre artist and author. Her talk will focus on being raised in exile, interconnecting her own life with that of Ana Tijoux’s. Carmen will give readings of her own works, including new pieces that will be shared publicly for the first time.

Carmen is an Electric Company Theatre Core Artist and has written and co-written over twenty-five plays and the #1 international bestseller Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (2012 CBC Canada Reads winner), and its bestselling sequel, Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution. Her new play Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project will premiere at The Vancouver East Cultural Centre in October, 2025.

Carmen has over eighty film, television, and stage acting credits, including her Leo-nominated lead role in the independent Feature Bella Ciao!, a series regular on the showtime series Endgame, and memorable roles in Riverdale, the Sundance-winning feature film Quinceanera, and Best In Show. She can currently be seen in Family Law as Victor Garber’s ex-wife and rival lawyer, and in season six of Virgin River playing a colleague of Doc’s.

She is the recipient of the 2011 UBCP Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award, the 2014 Betty Mitchell Award for her outstanding theatre performance in The Motherfucker With The Hat, and was named one of the 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians by the Canadian Hispanic Business Alliance in 2014. Carmen is a graduate of Studio 58.

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Programmed by curator-in-residence Jarrett Martineau