Music festival-influenced party ends ASFA Frosh with a bang
While not every student who attended the Arts and Sciences Federation of Associations (ASFA) 2018 Orientation Week has been to a music festival yet, its final event was their way of immersing every attendee in a world of booming bass, laser beams and dancing DJs.
Concordia’s Orientation Week is a series of events and activities organized by each of the school’s four associations. The student-led activities are held a few days before the start of the semester, and are meant to welcome incoming students to the university world.
The Montreal Science Center, located in the city’s Old Port, is usually a place for families and couples seeking an educational experience. However, its top floor reception hall became the venue for something a little louder this past Saturday night — a music festival.
The event was titled “Golden State Party,” appropriate for ASFA Orientation Week’s (also known as “Frosh”) California-themed parties. It included a stage with an impressive laser show to accompany the DJs’s music, a patio where party-goers could go to escape the tightly packed crowd for some air, and multiple bars strategically placed throughout the venue. Alcohol-seeking Frosh leaders and ‘froshies’ (freshmen who attend Frosh) had more than enough variety within the venue to satisfy their needs.
The lineup for the Golden State Party consisted of the opening act DJ Czich, a Concordia student who DJs in his free time; WAVES, a Toronto-based duo; and KHAOS, a veteran festival performer from Ottawa.
Christopher Czich, a.k.a. DJ Czich, is a fourth-year communications major and part-time party starter. Recently surpassing his two year mark as a DJ, Czich always tries his hardest to find time to do what he loves — making people dance.
“[The students] all want to have a great night and dance as much as they can, and I love being able to give them just that,” Czich said. “They also have so much energy they give off when dancing and shouting/singing and it makes it a lot of fun.”
The duo that is WAVES is currently on its “U Forever Tour” around Canada, performing mostly at other universities such as St. Francis Xavier University and Acadia University, in Nova Scotia. ASFA Frosh’s Golden State Party was the second stop on their month-long tour.
WAVES’s music falls under the EDM-pop genre, not unlike the ultra-popular EDM duo, The Chainsmokers. Their songs generally share an upbeat electronic dance style, typically with a pop singer lacing their lyrics smoothly over an energetic instrumental. The trademark drops that EDM songs are so well known for are also used to add emphasis and excitement to their songs.
Ruslana Malytska, known as KHAOS, was the show’s closer. From Ottawa, she has graced the stages of some of Canada’s biggest festivals, including Escapade Music Festival in Ottawa, Villa Paradizo in Montreal, and Ever After Music Festival in Kitchener.
Known for her energetic stage presence and diverse song selection in her sets, KHAOS kept the crowd jumping and dancing for the entirety of her 90 minute set. Her blend of dancehall, hip-hop and EDM songs was the combination chosen to please the diverse crowd.
According to Enya Leger, a second -year journalism student, Student Life Coordinator for ASFA, and organizer of their Frosh events, it isn’t always easy to please everyone.
“We get so many people from all over the world with different backgrounds,” she explained. “Some people love EDM and house, other people want R&B and hip-hop, so it’s tough deciding what the best route is for music.”
For fourth-year biochemistry major and Frosh Leader, Sneh Patel, fellow Concordian DJ Czich was the highlight of the night. “I know DJ Czich from various events such as Reggie’s Thursdays, Party at the Port and various local events,” he said.
“[DJ Czich’s set] was a great mix of hip-hop, top 40 and EDM which made it very easy to dance to, and the mixing was very clean,” Patel said. “The only issue was that his set was too short.”
While Concordia students prepare themselves for the start of classes, those who attended ASFA Frosh’s final event can look back on the night to help them cope with the end of summer.
