Step into the rhythm and legacy of a cultural pioneer with The Sister Nancy Story: A Curated Film and Conversation.
This special program celebrates Jamaica’s first female dancehall deejay, whose classic Bam Bam has become one of the most sampled and enduring tracks in music history. More than a biography, the film reveals how Sister Nancy broke barriers in a male-dominated scene, crafting a legacy that continues to reverberate across reggae, hip-hop, and global sound systems.
To open the evening, Toronto-based artist Chatta will deliver a live performance, carrying forward the spirit of Sister Nancy through contemporary sound and energy.
The evening will present selected clips from the film, each paired with live conversation that unpacks the history, artistry, and social impact of Sister Nancy’s journey. Between excerpts, an esteemed panel will share perspectives on her music, influence, and cultural significance.
The discussion features director Alison Duke, legendary producer K-Cut, cultural theorist and DJ Lynnée Denise, and moderator Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert, whose expertise in music and cultural studies will guide the dialogue. Together, they will explore themes of resistance, representation, and creative freedom at the heart of Sister Nancy’s story, while inviting the audience into the exchange.
This is not only a celebration of one artist’s extraordinary path, but also a collective reflection on how her voice continues to inspire new generations of musicians, thinkers, and cultural creators.
Guests:
Alison Duke
Writer and Film Director
Alison Duke, Co-founder of OYA Media Group, is an accomplished writer/producer/director with a two-decade track record in storytelling. Alison started her career producing music videos for top Canadian urban talent at Raje Film House. She went on to direct the seminal cult classic documentary ‘Raisin Kane: A Rapumentary’ which won many festival awards including the HBO award at the Urbanworld film festival. Alison produced and co-wrote ‘Mr. Jane and Finch’, the TV documentary about 80-year-old activist Winston LaRose. The film won two CSA’s, including The Donald Brittain Award for best social-political documentary.
Alison made her dramatic debut with the short film ‘Promise Me’, which has screened at over 30 festivals and earned numerous awards, including Golden Sheafs for best direction and best scripted fiction (2021 Yorkton film festival). In 2022 Alison became the first Black woman to direct a Canadian Heritage minute (Chloe Cooley). Her doc series ‘Black Community Mixtapes’, which she produced and directed with Ngardy Conteh-George, was nominated for several CSA’s, including best writing & direction for Alison. In 2024 Alison directed the CBC/BBC doc series ‘The Big Payback’ on music industry injustices for Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures. She also directed a feature music doc, ‘Bam Bam: The Story of Sister Nancy’ for CRAVE. The film received its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.
Since 2005 Alison has been giving back to her community by providing on-set learning opportunities for up-and-coming talent. In 2018, she kickstarted the OYA Emerging Filmmakers program, an initiative to accelerate the careers of Black youth who are graduates of post-secondary film, video and digital media programs in the Canadian entertainment industry.
Lynnée Denise
DJ, writer, professor, and electronic music scholar
Lynnée Denise, a global practitioner of sound, language, and Black Atlantic thought, is an Amsterdam–Johannesburg–based writer and interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles, California. Influenced by her parents’ record collection and the sonic experimentation of the 1980s, her work traces the migrations of music and the role of Black electronic traditions in the African Diaspora. In 2013, she coined the term DJ Scholarship to describe how knowledge is gathered, interpreted, and produced through a conceptual and theoretical framework, shifting the role of the DJ from party purveyor to archivist and cultural worker. A doctoral student in the Department of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, Denise’s research explores how sound system culture creates a living archive for the Black queer diaspora.
Francesca D’Amico Cuthbert – Moderator
Creative, educator, historian, Scholar
Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert is a multi-disciplinary creative, educator, and award-winning historian of American and Canadian Hip Hop culture, the creative industries, and the music marketplace. She serves as both a programmer in Hart House’s Hip Hop Education program and Chief Research Officer at the Hip Hop Education Center where she leads the “Fresh, Bold, So Def” initiative which documents and preserves the contributions and achievements of women in Hip Hop culture across and beyond the United States through the curation of archives, and development of educational tools and curricula.
As a leading scholar of the Toronto Hip Hop scene, Francesca co-founded Roots Rhymes Collective in 2023 – a community-engaged cohort of artist-educators and researchers focussed on documenting, preserving and archiving Toronto Hip Hop history. In 2024, she served as the project manager for “A Great Day In Toronto Hip Hop” which documented 103 individuals and five generations of Toronto Hip Hop and was showcased at “The Culture: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” exhibit’s only Canadian stop at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
With a Ph.D. in History from York University (2019), Francesca’s scholarship on American Hip Hop traced how American emcees in the era of mass incarceration constructed complex ethnographies of urban spaces, transformed dispositions of power, and unmasked the modes and mechanisms of a persistent and haunting coloniality in the afterlives of American slavery. While serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities Institute (2020-2022) and the University of Calgary (2022-2023), Francesca documented Canadian Hip Hop’s relationship to national mythmaking, commerce, anti-Black market segmentation and the availability of state revenue streams and marketplace exposure. Her research has been published in: #HipHopEd: The Compilation on Hip Hop Education, The Journal of Canadian Historical Association, Canadian Journal of History, Musicworks, and The Dance Current.
As an educator, Francesca has taught several courses on the histories of popular culture, Hip Hop, and songwriting, including “Hip Hop and the City” – York University’s longest running Hip Hop course on the culture’s evolution from a trans-local urban art form to a global commodity.
Chatta
Dancehall Reggae Recording Artist
She is known as The Speed of Consciousness. Seducing listeners with her intoxicating Dancehall style, Chatta has captivated audiences worldwide with electrifying performances and a powerful voice that commands attention. She first made waves with her debut EP; The Speed of Consciousness (2004), which quickly climbed to the top of Roots I Radio in Kingston, Jamaica, marking her arrival as a bold new force in the genre.
In 2015, she released the impactful single Clear Off Dutty Heart, tackling the issue of envy and “bad mind” while promoting unity, positivity, and resilience. Drawing from her path as both an artist and a Doctor of Natural Medicine, Chatta infused the song with the spirit of a healer—using music as a form of therapy and empowerment. The track encouraged communities to celebrate each other’s success, transform negativity into strength, and embrace wellness in both mind and spirit. Her career has included collaborations with Jamaican star Turbulence, opening for Capleton at St. Mary Mi Come From, and recording the sultry Mango Love at the legendary Bobby Digital Studio in Kingston, mixed and mastered by Bobby Digital himself. Her fan favorites; Ganja Tea, My Flow in Toronto, Bun Dung, Holiday Time, Murderah, and Ethiopia, continue to energize Canadian and Jamaican airwaves.
Chatta’s artistry has earned her significant recognition, including Top Dancehall Female Artist at the 21st Annual Canadian Reggae Music Awards and nearly ten consecutive Female Dancehall DJ Awards at the ReggaeXclusive Awards, cementing her as one of the most respected female performers in the scene.
Her live shows are a masterclass in passion and lyrical fire, with her signature fast-tongue Dancehall style riding sharp, staccato bursts over powerful, percussive rhythms. She has graced major stages such as the Toronto International Reggae Awards, the Montreal Reggae Festival, the Marcus Garvey Celebration, the University of the West Indies in Kingston, the Annual Jamaica Independence Day Celebration and more.
In 2025, Chatta delivered a Tribute to Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam at Toronto’s legendary Massey Hall for Honey Jam’s 30th Anniversary, founded by visionary Ebonnie Rowe, securing her place in the legacy of groundbreaking female artists shaping the future of music.
Embrace the rush. Feel the energy. Experience the Speed of Consciousness with Chatta.
www.chatta.ca / @chattachats / chattachats@gmail.com