# Gayance

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**Aïsha Vertus**, known professionally as **Gayance** (pronounced guy-ence), is a Canadian house and electronic music producer and DJ born and raised in [Montreal](/source/Montreal), Quebec. Vertus grew up in [Montreal-Nord](/source/Montr%C3%A9al-Nord), a multicultural neighborhood in Quebec.[1] Her album *Mascarade* was shortlisted for the [2023 Polaris Music Prize](/source/2023_Polaris_Music_Prize).[2]

## Early life

Gayance is of Haitian descent. She is a direct descendent of former Haitian president [Jean-Nicolas Nissage Saget](/source/Jean-Nicolas_Nissage_Saget) on her paternal grandmother's side. Vertus is fluent in French, English, [Haitian Creole](/source/Haitian_Creole) and [Brazilian Portuguese](/source/Brazilian_Portuguese).[3][4]

Vertus attended a public art school in Montreal-Nord called École Primaire Ste-Gertrude where she learned piano and theater. She went to Danse Mode Action, a dance school and casting agency based in Montreal from 1996 until 2009. Here, she learned ballet, contemporary dance, and tap dance.[5] She later went to Urban Element Zone to learn street dance and was part of a dance crew trained by Ricky St-Jusna and Andy Michel. She studied cinema and photography at Conservatoire Lassalle.

## Career

Vertus has been a club DJ in the Montreal area and has also directed a documentary called Piu Piu, which is a film about the Montreal beat scene, her local music scene, in 2012. The film Included [Kaytranada](/source/Kaytranada), [Dead Obies](/source/Dead_Obies), [Alaclair Ensemble](/source/Alaclair_Ensemble) and High Klassified.[6]

Gayance was a music programmer for [MURAL Festival](/source/MURAL_Festival) in 2017 which headlined Grammy-nominated singer [Post Malone](/source/Post_Malone) and [Pop Montreal](/source/Pop_Montreal) from 2018 until 2021.[7] Gayance was also the booker for [Arcade Fire](/source/Arcade_Fire)'s Haitian restaurants Agrikol and Ti-Agrikol. Vertus was a host for VICE Québec, VICE Canada, and Noisey France from 2016 until 2018.[8][9][10] She was the creative producer of the exhibition *Vision Hip Hop QC* in Montreal's PHI Center in 2022.[11] She also worked as a content producer for several TV shows such as *Pour Mes Fils Mon Silence est Impossible* hosted by [Isabelle Racicot](/source/Isabelle_Racicot), Tu Viens d'Où hosted by Nicolas Ouellet and she was the head of content for Table Rase for the first 2 seasons.

Vertus taught herself music production skills in [Ableton Live](/source/Ableton_Live) during the [COVID-19 pandemic](/source/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Quebec) with the help of [Foxtrott](/source/Foxtrott) and Belgian-Congolese producer Peter Clinton. She then released her debut [EP](/source/Extended_play) *No Toning Down* in 2021.[12] She signed to the dance music label Rhythm Section in 2022, releasing the single "Nunca Mais", co-produced by Dutch artist LAZA on the label that year.[1] In March of 2023, she released her debut album *Mascarade*.[5][13]

Alongside French-Canadian director Maïlis, Vertus is the creative director of the visual-album *Mascarade : Origin Story* which was Maïlis short listed for a Young Director Award in Cannes, France.

## Personal life

After her first trip to Los Angeles in 2010 to seek the LA beat scene, she encountered [Soulection](/source/Soulection).[14] In 2014, she made her first solo trip to Brazil for a month at the same time as the [World cup](/source/World_cup) in Brazil for self-discovery. She fell in love with the [Afro-Brazilian culture](/source/Afro-Brazilians), especially from [Bahia](/source/Bahia). In October 2017 after a severe burn-out, Vertus moved to [Brussels, Belgium](/source/Brussels) until September 2019. In Fall 2022, she relocated to [Amsterdam, Netherlands](/source/Amsterdam).[15][16]

## Works

### Discography

- 2021: *No Toning Down* (EP)
- 2023: *Mascarade* (12' Rhythm Section International)

### Productions

- 2021: "Ritmo" co-produced by Dapapa
- 2022: "Sirens" feat. [Kallitechnis](/source/Kallitechnis), co-produced by Dapapa (Beautiful Music)

### Songwriting and Topline

- 2023: "No More" produced by Jarreau Vandal (Hear This Records)

## References

1. ["Montreal's Gayance Shares Hypnotic Single "Nunca Mais" | Exclaim!"](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/montreals_gayance_shares_new_single_nunca_mais)

1. ["Here's the 2023 Polaris Music Prize short list"](https://www.cbc.ca/music/events/polaris/polaris-music-prize-2023-short-list-1.6903778)

1. Côté, Émilie (March 2023). ["Gayance: Pieds poudrés"](https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/musique/2023-03-01/gayance/pieds-poudres.php). *La Presse*

1. ["La famille Cariotte : Haïtiens à Montréal d'hier à aujourd'hui"](https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/grandes-series/220/sacreefamille/365375/la-famille-cariotte-haitiens-a-montreal-dhier)

1. ["Get to know Gayance, the DJ and producer expressing joyfulness through music"](https://mixmag.net/feature/get-to-know-gayance-montreal-haiti-dj-rhythm-section-interview)

1. ["DJ Gayance: Génération Piu piu"](https://www.lafabriqueculturelle.tv/capsules/13902/dj-gayance-generation-piu-piu)

1. ["Fêter les 20 ans de POP Montréal avec Gayance"](https://journalmetro.com/culture/rencontres/2699231/feter-les-20-ans-de-pop-montreal-avec-gayance/). 24 September 2021.

1. ["Régine Chassagne nous parle de son amour pour la musique haïtienne"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170919002736/https://video.vice.com/fr_ca/video/regine-chassagne-darcade-fire-nous-parle-de-son-amour-pour-la-musique-haitienne/59bc4660d7f8df932a2d00ba). Archived from [the original](https://video.vice.com/fr_ca/video/regine-chassagne-darcade-fire-nous-parle-de-son-amour-pour-la-musique-haitienne/59bc4660d7f8df932a2d00ba) on September 19, 2017.

1. ["La voix réconfortante d'Eric Séguin"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170111222447/https://video.vice.com/fr_ca/video/la-voix-reconfortante-deric-seguin/58755b149d39d5c115397dd9). Archived from [the original](https://video.vice.com/fr_ca/video/la-voix-reconfortante-deric-seguin/58755b149d39d5c115397dd9) on January 11, 2017.

1. ["Sama'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200926021744/https://video.vice.com/fr/video/sama/5bc8870abe407742ec0f56f1). Archived from [the original](https://video.vice.com/fr/video/sama/5bc8870abe407742ec0f56f1) on September 26, 2020.

1. ["An Exhibition by Marven Clerveau | Visions Hip-Hop QC"](https://phi.ca/en/events/visions-hip-hop/). 11 February 2022.

1. ["We spoke with Gayance about her long-awaited debut album, Mascarade"](https://cultmtl.com/2023/03/we-spoke-with-gayance-about-her-long-awaited-debut-album-mascarade/). 3 March 2023.

1. [""Mascarade": Les errances musicales de Gayance"](https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/783910/musique-mascarade-les-errances-musicales-de-gayance). 3 March 2023.

1. ["Mixcloud"](https://www.mixcloud.com/soulection/show-77-w-alaizle-breakbasse-culture-montreal-qc/)

1. ["Gayance"](https://lecanalauditif.ca/artistes/gayance-artiste/)

1. ["Get Familiar: Gayance"](https://www.patta.nl/blogs/news/get-familiar-gayance). 25 May 2023.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gayance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayance) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayance?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.