On Saturday, September 19, 2026, we brought Dijilele to Queen West Art Crawl 2026 in Toronto for a day of live music, hands-on exploration, conversations, and new connections.
Throughout the day, visitors had the chance to try Dijilele S and Dijilele M for themselves, hear them performed live, and ask us questions about how the instruments work, where they are in development, and how they can be used for learning, performing, and music production.
For us, one of the best parts of attending events like Queen West Art Crawl is simple: seeing Dijilele in more hands.
Who performed with Dijilele at Queen West Art Crawl?
Jonathan Markov, Mehrdad Jafari Raad, and Ali Tehrani performed and sang with Dijilele S and Dijilele M throughout the day.
The musicians used different Dijilele voices for different pieces, showing how the same compact instrument can take on different musical roles and sounds.
Hearing different artists approach Dijilele in their own way was also a reminder of something important to us: digital instruments become much more interesting when musicians start finding uses for them that go beyond what the designers originally imagined.
What did people think when they tried Dijilele?
Many visitors commented on how lightweight, approachable, easy to use, and, yes, cute Dijilele felt when they picked it up.
We also met young visitors who were already experimenting with DAW software and digital music production. Their curiosity about connecting physical instruments with digital tools made them especially interested in giving Dijilele a try.
These interactions are some of our favourite parts of public events. Rather than simply demonstrating the instrument, we get to watch people experiment, ask questions, and discover their own ways of interacting with it.
What stage of development is Dijilele currently in?
This was one of the questions we heard most often.
Dijilele has gone through 11 years of research and development with different user groups, and our first production batch is now underway.
We expect to receive the first batch in December 2026.
Pre-orders are currently available in the Greater Toronto Area and Waterloo Region, where we are able to provide customer service and support at this stage of our launch. You can visit our pre-order page here and order yours if you live within the specified regions.
Can I pre-order Dijilele now?
Yes. Pre-order links for Dijilele S and Dijilele M are now available for customers in the Greater Toronto Area and Waterloo Region.
Our initial geographic availability is intentional. As we introduce the first production batch, we want to make sure we can provide customers with appropriate support and service.
As Dijilele grows, we hope to gradually expand availability to more regions.
Is Dijilele a MIDI instrument?
Yes. Dijilele supports MIDI connectivity, allowing it to be incorporated into digital music workflows and used with compatible DAW software and virtual instruments.
At the same time, Dijilele is designed to work as a playable digital instrument on its own. MIDI is therefore one of the ways musicians can use Dijilele rather than its only purpose.
For musicians, producers, educators, and curious learners, this creates opportunities to move between hands-on playing and digital sound exploration.
Can you adjust the dynamic sensitivity of Dijilele?
Yes. Dijilele’s dynamic sensitivity can be adjusted through the application.
This allows players to change how the instrument responds to their playing and adapt its behaviour to different preferences, playing styles, or use cases.
How durable is Dijilele?
Dijilele has been designed with durability and lower-maintenance ownership in mind.
Because it is a digital fretted instrument rather than a conventional acoustic string instrument, our goal has been to reduce some of the maintenance associated with comparable acoustic instruments while creating something lightweight enough to carry and use comfortably.
As we move into production and longer-term everyday use, continuing to learn about durability in real-world conditions will remain important to us.
Would Dijilele collaborate with experimental or microtonal artists and bands?
Another interesting question we received was whether we had considered connecting with artists and bands working with experimental or microtonal music, including groups such as Angine de Poitrine.
The answer is absolutely. We are interested in meeting musicians whose creative work intersects with the capabilities and use cases of Dijilele.
In the coming years, we hope to continue expanding our network of artists, performers, educators, producers, and experimental musicians and explore what they can create with Dijilele.
We are particularly excited about collaborations in which artists discover possibilities that we may not have considered ourselves.
Why do events like Queen West Art Crawl matter to Dijilele?
A new musical instrument can be explained through specifications, photos, and videos, but there is something different about actually putting it into someone’s hands.
At Queen West Art Crawl, we met musicians, families, young digital music enthusiasts, artists, and curious visitors. Some wanted to understand the technology. Some immediately wanted to play. Others started imagining where an instrument like Dijilele might fit into their own music.
Each conversation gave us another perspective on how people understand and experience the instrument.
What did we take away from Queen West Art Crawl 2026?
Above all, it was a day full of music, experimentation, new connections, and possibilities for future collaboration.
We loved hearing our artists perform with Dijilele S and M. We loved answering thoughtful questions about MIDI, dynamic sensitivity, durability, production, and future artist collaborations.
And most importantly, we loved seeing Dijilele in more hands.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, played a few notes, listened to a performance, shared an idea, or simply asked us a question.
We look forward to seeing where the next conversations and the next sounds take us.