After the cryptic surprise drop of QALF, Damso might have more to show us.
With 12 tracks dominating Spotify’s France Top 50 playlist, Damso’s latest album QALF became Spotify France’s best drop of the year. The album reached over 11 million streams a day after its release on Friday, Sept. 18.
Since Damso’s last studio album Lithopédion dropped in 2018, the 28-year-old artist kept a low profile on social media, removing all of his photos on Instagram, until the drop of QALF.
News about the Belgian-Congolese rapper working on this latest project has been going around since October of last year. But a tweet he posted in 2015 in which he uses the term “QALF” shows that the project might have been in the making for over five years.
According to an interview with the Belgian hip hop YouTube channel Tarmac, the title stands for “Qui Aime Like Follow” (Who Loves Like Follow). Fans are speculating that the tracks released on Sept. 18 are only the first part of a possible double record due to the last track being titled “INTRO.”
Some fans, including Belgian rapper Kobo, are also questioning why there are two album covers surfacing the web showing two different durations. The original album being 45:05 and another almost identical cover with three minutes added to the original 45.
A fifteenth track is another possible reason for the added three minutes in the second cover. A Twitter fan posted a screenshot of Damso’s QALF playlist that reveals an unlisted song titled “Jade.”
Although highly-anticipated, QALF‘s sudden release was announced in an Instagram post, leaving his 1.8 million followers pleasantly surprised. The post simply captioned, “Bonne Écoute” (Good Listening) with the Vulcan Salute emoji. Listeners who stuck around since Batterie faible would recognize the emoji as the rapper’s signature #Vie hand sign.
Damso fans will also recognize some of Belgium’s biggest artists featured in the new album such as rapper Hamza and singer Lous and the Yakuza, who is also originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
His collaboration with Fally Ipupa, one of the most popular rumba singers in his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is arguably the most exciting collaboration on the whole album. “FAIS ÇA BIEN” combines both Fally Ipupa’s Lingala singing with Damso’s rap over rumba music that shifts to a more trap beat early in the song.
Fans get to also hear the rapper’s son Lior speak for the first time in “DEUX TOILES DE MER.” The title is a reference to a voicemail Lior left his father, where he stumbles saying “des étoiles de mer” (starfishes) while talking about the different sea animals he saw.
After Lior’s heartwarming voicemail, the song transitions into a delicate piano piece where Damso sings about how much he misses his son and how he is no longer with the mother. The close bond between Damso and his son is well-known among fans, as the rapper occasionally featured the toddler in his Instagram stories.
Between QALF and his 2018 album Lithopédion, Damso continued to regularly feature on French rapper Kalash’s hits and held a concert in Laval on May 10, 2019. The scale of his fanbase in Quebec was underestimated when fans urged him to move the concert from MTELUS to Place Bell due to high demand.
But the success QALF received within the first week of its release showed that despite the couple of years he spent staying out of the public eye, fans who love him are ready to like and follow.
On March 10, students from various Canadian universities launched online petitions urging their administrations to consider suspending all in-person classes.
These petitions have since gathered thousands of signatures.
After seeing the University of Washington’s success with its petition, McGill University’s Ready McGill, a student-run emergency preparedness initiative, initiated the movement in Canada with an online petition on Change.org to suspend all in-person instruction and shift to online lectures. The petition is now closed and reached nearly 9,000 signatures.
Ready McGill said they were disappointed by McGill’s “wait-and-see approach.”
“[McGill University administrators] want us to get sick first before they would consider cancelling school, which might be politically convenient for the administrators, but really disastrous for us the students and faculty,” Ready McGill wrote in a statement to The Concordian.
Comments are flooding the online petitions, some criticizing the universities’ business-as-usual attitude despite the high possibility of a widespread outbreak on campus.
Concordia University and the University of Toronto followed suit and launched their own petitions after seeing the traction McGill’s was getting, garnering 11,000 and just under 19,000 signatures, respectively.
“I am a student concerned for not only my health but the health of those around me,” wrote Concordia journalism and political science student Caitlin Yardley in the comment section of the petition. “I live in a building with predominantly elderly people and although I would likely recover from contracting the virus, my neighbours might not. For the health of the community, please suspend classes.”
“A lot of students are quite concerned about the situation. And of course, everyone wants to protect their own health and safety first,” said the president of the Students’ Society of McGill University, Bryan Buraga, in an interview with The Concordian.
“The level of extent to which they believe that the university should close varies,” Buraga added. But he feels that there is a “prevailing sense” from the students that the university should cancel in-person classes.
Concordia philosophy student David Becker created Concordia’s version of the petition in hopes that the support and signatures it received would pressure the university’s administration to act.
“I think it is important that this becomes a story because most schools in North America are trying to find a solution to keep their students safe and Concordia doesn’t seem to be doing anything,” said Becker.
Over 200 U.S. universities including Harvard University, Columbia, MIT and UC Berkeley temporarily closed to prevent the possibility of transmission among their students.
Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci released a statement about the university’s current course of action. The plan was to initially convert only six classes with over 250 students enrolled to online.
But after Legault announced Friday the shutdown of all Quebec daycares, elementary schools, high schools and universities until March 27, a statement was sent to all Concordia students that classes are to be cancelled until Monday, March 30 by the university’s president and vice-chancellor Graham Carr.
While the school is shutdown, Concordia professors will convert all in-class lectures to an online format by March 23, while the university prepares a plan for what comes after March 30 with the instructions from the ministries of education and public health. There are currently no updates regarding all exam schedules and the delivery of upcoming finals, but Concordia is working on a plan for students to complete the winter semester.
“We are finalizing a plan to allow us to deliver instruction online through a variety of technologies such as Zoom, that we have in place,” Maestracci said. Zoom is a video conferencing software on which university professors can hold their lectures and meetings with students online. New York University and University of Washington converted some of the classes to online instruction using Zoom.
Both campuses at Sir George Williams and Loyola are closed to all students as of Friday, March 13. Concordia employees began working remotely on necessary university operations during the shutdown.
While school is cancelled, it is recommended to frequently wash your hands with soap, avoid sharing utensils and other personal items, and keep a social distance from others for the next upcoming weeks according to the Gouvernement du Quebec.
The Concordia Greening Project collaborated with non-profit organization Soverdi in planting over 185 Indigenous trees at the Loyola campus.
You may have noticed a new addition to Loyola’s scenery this week – around 129 Concordia students, professors and staff planted various types of trees that are native to Quebec’s forest system on campus.
The Loyola tree-planting event began last week, on Nov. 5, but the idea came up last February at the Concordia Greening Project’s first committee meeting.
The Concordia Greening Project is a new student-faculty collective that aims to promote greener practices on Concordia campuses.
Before the project, the campus’ landscape was mainly occupied by species of maple trees. Now you can find more than 20 varieties of Indigenous species such as the Canadian Serviceberries, White Birches, Red Oaks and Jack Pines.
“It’s a shame not to use the wonderful space that we have to its fullest benefits,” said Concordia Biology Professor Rebecca Tittler. “Trees provide cleaner air, water filtration and also improves well-being,”
“Young growing trees sequester a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and put it into their own growth; the growth of their leaves and trunk,” Tittler said.
According to a 2019 StatCan report on greenhouse gas sources, the combustion of fossil fuels is the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide in Canada.
Trees are also commonly used to help fight extreme hot weather by providing shade and protection against heat waves. They cool the air with the water filtered through their roots, which is later released through the trees’ leaves. Trees also filter stormwater runoff from transporting toxic substances into nearby rivers and avoid contaminating the city’s clean water system.
A little over 100 trees were planted around the Stingers Dome, 44 more native trees near Hingston Halland and 41 forest trees similar to Quebec’s woodlands in front of the Communications Studies and Journalism building.
“We’re just students trying to see action in what we’re studying and trying to make changes,” said Founding Member of the Concordia Greening Project Theo Vergnet, who also studies Human Environment at the university.
With over 500,000 people who joined this year’s Montreal climate march, this is a step up for Concordia students and faculty members to demonstrate their part against global climate change. The event went on for four days, but the new installation provides the Loyola campus with a sustainable and long-term solution to certain environmental issues.
These Indigenous trees will be used as a teaching tool for the biodiversity classes taught by professor Tittler at the university. Being right outside the school buildings, students in the Sustainability program can get a more hands-on experience of the subject rather than learning about it from lectures in a classroom setting.
Over $50,000 went into funding Loyola’s tree-planting project, with the City of Montreal subsidizing 54 per cent of the cost and TD Bank covering 36 per cent as part of its #TheReadyCommitment program. Concordia University contributed 10 per cent.
“I think it’s a great partnership between institutions and Soverdi. Green spaces are really important; that we preserve and take care of it.” said Mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Sue Montgomery in an interview with the Concordian. She visited the sites and even planted her own tree at the campus.
The Arts and Science Federation of Associations’ annual general elections are over and there’s a new team who will be taking over the office this year. Meet the members of ASFA’s new executive:
Evan Lee, general coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
George Manolakis, academic coordinator. Photo courtesy of George Manolakis.
Tori Smith-Ayotte, student life coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Richard Mayer, internal coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Michelle Lam – communications coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Janet Yang, finance coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Maryam El Hebri, mobilization coordinator. Photo by @PeterandParkr.
Evan Lee – General Coordinator
Lee co-ran Model UN and participated in civic engagement clubs at his high school in New Jersey. “That’s where I found my passion for politics, my interest for international relations,” he said.
Lee said that, oftentimes, students find themselves with no mentor to guide them, but he is always eager to help students find the perfect balance between academic and social life. When asked what is his proudest achievement, he said it would be setting a good example in a family with two younger siblings, the youngest being six. “Being a good role model for them is one of the biggest things for me,” Lee said.
During his first year at Concordia, Evan Lee became an ambassador for the university’s Political Science Student Association (PSSA) to help other first-year poli-sci students learn about the events and workshops happening at the university. He later became an independent councillor at the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) and is now ASFA’s incoming general coordinator.
As general coordinator, Lee hopes to change students’ apathy towards university politics and encourage them to get involved in student life, as well as to use ASFA’s resources.
Michelle Lam – Communications Coordinator
Originally from Toronto, Michelle Lam is a communications and economics student at Concordia, and the incoming communications coordinator at ASFA. Previously, Lam was an independent councillor at ASFA along with fellow Momentum for ASFA members Evan Lee and Tori Smith-Ayotte.
She presently works as the marketing director for the student-run magazine John Molson Business Review and the ASFA Journal Editorial Board. Lam is also involved in the events and leadership committee at Grey Nuns.
Before studying at Concordia, Lam was the communications officer for the Toronto District School Board Student Senate and chief marketing officer at Toronto International Affairs. Her impressive efforts in the community were recognized by TMX when she was named one of Canada’s Next 150 Leaders.
Ever since she was young, Lam found joy in cooking. “My father owns a restaurant and cooking is something that brings us together,” she said. She plans on pursuing a culinary certificate in her hometown.
Richard Mayer – Internal Coordinator
Third-year philosophy student Richard Mayer is ASFA’s incoming internal coordinator. He began his political involvement at Concordia as the communications director for SoPhiA, a student association representing the university’s philosophy undergraduates. Mayer then became SoPhiA’s member association’s (MA) representative in ASFA’s council. He later transitioned to the executive level where he became the first person appointed as the federation’s consul last winter.
“There is currently a large sprawling movement sanctioned by ASFA to reform a lot of the communications practices and internal methodology,” Mayer said. “I saw first-hand the internal procedures of ASFA, and while I’ve always enjoyed student politics, it’s very frustrating that its elite mentality is bogging that change,” he added.
As internal coordinator, he plans on breaking ASFA’s current corporatist attitude by giving the student body more room for representation.
Maryam El Hebri – Mobilization Coordinator
Maryam El Hebri is a fourth-year history student and ASFA’s incoming mobilization coordinator. Running independently, she defeated Momentum’s candidate, Ryan Simonyik 235 votes to 116.
This is El Hebri’s first experience with ASFA. In her spare time, she has volunteered at community organizations such as West Island Palliative Care, YMCA, and Miriam Home and Services, a centre for people with intellectual disabilities. “I decided to run because I deeply care about the issues regarding sexual harassment, mental health and discrimination,” she said.
Although she is new to the incoming executive team, El Hebri is looking forward to working with and getting to know them. “The best thing to do is to be open, compromise, and adjust to gain the best outcome,” she said.
Tori Smith-Ayotte – Student Life Coordinator
Sociology student Tori Smith-Ayotte is ASFA’s incoming student life coordinator. Appointed thrice as a Frosh leader, Smith-Ayotte spent six hours a day from June to August preparing ASFA’s 2018 multi-day event Froshifornia Dreamin.
Sitting on multiple committees at ASFA, Smith-Ayotte is engaged in the duties of an independent councillor and consul for the federation as well. As consul, she chairs the meetings of the executive team. As student life coordinator, she wants to promote a sense of community for students by helping MAs plan their orientation events.
“We study one thing, but we have so many interests,” Smith-Ayotte said. She enjoys attending a variety of social events held by different student associations, from camping trips with the geography department to wine and cheese parties. “And you can actually do all those little things if you knew what MAs have to offer you,” she said.
“There’s very low involvement from the students to come to our events,” Smith-Ayotte said. “People don’t have a sense of school spirit when it comes to ASFA.” She hopes to change this by fulfilling the student body’s requests on academic and social events and she welcomes suggestions for next year’s Frosh and Halloween parties.
Janet Yang – Finance Coordinator
Janet Yang is an actuarial mathematics student and soon-to-be ASFA’s finance coordinator. For the past year, she has been heavily involved in Concordia’s Mathematics and Statistics Member Association (MSSA). She started as VP of Internal Affairs before her appointment as MSSA’s president from the last by-elections.
With her interest in programming, Yang recently co-hosted a VBA Workshop with MASSA’s VP Social Louis-Landry Mwizero for beginners that was a success with JMSB students. VBA is a programming language of Excel that stands for Virtual Basic for Applications, a practical asset for any business student to have.
As a member of Concordia’s Co-operative Education program, Yang has hands-on financial experience from multiple internship positions as an accounting assistant and data analyst. “There’s no standard procedure for MAs when they’re making a budget,” Yang said. As finance coordinator, she plans on using her skills to train all MAs’ finance executives with basic knowledge on finance.
George Manolakis – Academic coordinator
Following the completion of his first degree in human relations, George Manolakis is currently in his first year of political science at Concordia. Manolakis’s experience as a student is what motivated him to run for ASFA. “Having been a student in the Arts and Sciences for many years, I have seen first-hand the academic issues facing students, including myself, and this is what inspired me to go after this opportunity,” he said.
Although Manolakis wasn’t previously involved in student associations, he said “I have always enjoyed and have often had the occasion to help others.”
“As a new executive who is not a member of Momentum, I plan on working with them in a collaborative effort to make the voices and issues of the students heard,” Manolakis added.
A multidisciplinary addition to Concordia’s downtown campus
Concordia University’s 4th SPACE will be carrying out programs encompassing a variety of topics from avant-garde video games to open discussions about Indigenous cultures integrated in artificial intelligence during the upcoming months.
The explorative platform begins with a collaborative process between the school faculty and Concordia’s student associations, but it extends to more than a museum for school projects. After one month of its official launch in January, 4th SPACE revealed its interactive workshops to all passersby. The studio also features space for screenings and prototype installations presented by the university’s faculty members and students. Furthermore, its schedule offers roundtable events, an opportunity to spark conversation between guest panelists and the audience, that usually takes place in the center of the facility.
“Our collaborators, who will be researchers and students, take up residency in the SPACE, then they will transform the venue using specialized furniture,” said Knowledge Broker Prem Sooriyakumar. Designed to be as flexible and adjustable as a bento box, the venue can shift from a traditional science lab to a stage for visual art performances. “The way we’ve conceptualized the 4th SPACE is meant to be an agile space, meaning it can transform itself to the topic we are exploring for that set period,” Sooriyakumar continued.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Sir George Williams Affair and Black History Month, the integrative studio has just hosted a commemoration of the Affair, Protests and Pedagogy.
On Jan. 31, the second evening of Protests and Pedagogy, Dorothy Williams’s workshop aimed to educate participants a card game she created. Williams is a historian and author of the only book that studied the history of black Canadians from New France era to 20th century Montreal, The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal. Her game, The ABCs of Canadian Black History, is a familiar combination between the classic bingo and childhood trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh. Instead of anime monsters, these cards feature prominent black Canadian figures and organizations such as successful entrepreneur Wilson Ruffin Abbott and the Victoria Pioneer Rifles.
Following Protests and Pedagogy, the 4th SPACE will be hosting Landscapes of Hope on Feb. 19 and 20. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Curated by Concordia’s Art Education professor, Vivek Venkatesh, and Communication Studies professor, Owen Chapman, Landscape of Hope is a two-day program in which the first part will be a workshop held at the 4th SPACE on Feb. 19. The workshop gives Concordia undergraduates and CEGEP students a space where they can voice their thoughts on racism and cyberbullying. The program will proceed with a visual and musical art performance led by the undergraduates and graduates of the university’s Communications Studies, Art Education, Music Therapy and Education departments on Feb. 20 starting at 5 p.m.
Affiliated with Concordia’s SOcial Media EducatiON Every day (SOMEONE) project and international touring festival Grimposium, Landscape of Hope aims to teach workshop participants and viewers digital resilience in relation to online hate speech.
Since 2016, Professor Venkatesh and the SOMEONE research team have garnered worldwide attention by sharing elementary to post-secondary students’s narrative on cyber racism through music, theatre and other art mediums. Their project, Landscape of Hope, demonstrated success at their official premiere in Norway last year.
On March 4, 4th SPACE will be housing Arcade 11 in collaboration with Technoculture, Art and Games Research Centre (TAG) and the Montreal Public Libraries Network. The arcade will feature experimental video games and “each game would have some kind of research component whether it was the technology involved, the experience or type of play,” said 4th SPACE coordinator, Douglas Moffat. Visitors will also have the opportunity to discuss these topics with the indie video game developers.
This event welcomes people of all ages; parents can mark this event in their to-do list of fun March break activities with their children. From retro arcade machines to a VR gaming experience, Arcade 11 is also the perfect opportunity for Concordia students to play and unwind after a study session for finals.
Taking place from March 18 to April 12, the studio’s planning team will carry out an exhibition centered around artificial intelligence. 4th SPACE will provide a platform for its visitors to reflect on the concept of Indigenous practices within AI. There will also be room for discussion about the hopes and fears of the innovative technology that is frighteningly powerful and limitless.
Since the studio’s opening, many Montreal residents and university students have come to see the new topic 4th SPACE was exploring. Successfully mirroring Concordia’s dynamic and inclusive climate, what was once a dark and forgotten corner at the downtown campus has regained a pulse.
Protest and Pedagogies was held at the space’s last event, a presentation surfacing the traumas and silences of 1969’s Sir George Williams Affair and the reparative work involved post-affair on Monday, Feb. 11. For more information, visit 4th SPACE’s schedule of activities & events.
