Waahli

Bio

Waahli is an ovo-lacto vegetarian but once in a while he’ll eat chicken especially when it’s cooked by his mom. A black man born and raised in Quebec, his dad a skilled guitarist arrived in 1971 followed by his mom in 1972 from Haiti to escape the political instability. After completing degrees in communications, art and theater, and paralegal technology, Waahli now works as the legal coordinator at the Head and Hands clinic in NDG where he gives youth between the ages of 12-25 resources through a harm reductive approach in order to empower them to make informed decisions toward solving their legal issues.

With music as a passion; guitarist, producer and MC (Creole, French and English), he performed as a solo artist before the Nomadic Massive Collective got together 5 years ago. He tapped into the hip-hop culture at a very early age. Growing up in St-Michel facing a lot of social injustice, the message relayed by various artists who made conscious hip-hop spoke to him directly, and he felt deeply inspired to emanate that type of lifestyle through his own personal experience and has been involved in making music for social change while celebrating life which he categorizes as “Edutainment”. So there you have it, Waahli, not a religious person but a friendly guy, whose given name is one of the 99 attributes of Allah, which means loyal to the universal laws, friendly, social, and reliable. His aim and vision is to be active in making a difference for himself and the world around him, musically and socially.

Interview

What music are you listening to/art are you checking out these days? 

Well, you know I just love discovering new music everyday. I’ve never been the type to limit myself to only one genre. At a young age, I always had a thirst for new music which brought colours to my everyday life; it supported me to go through my many moods. Though, I must say, in the last three years, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bollywood soundtracks from the 70’s. I just love it. I'm very inspired by this intricate musical style especially all the sounds they come up with.
 
These days, I’ve been checking the art of local artist Chopin Joseph. You should Facebook him and check his work especially the series ''Pieces Of You''. A three-dimensional mosaic deconstructed facial structure in movement...that’s how I describe it!!! This artist never seems to stop evolving, very inspiring!!!!

Why should people, especially youth, vote?

Today’s youth are the blooming seeds of a future generation, and their voices are extremely important and they need to be heard to generate a result. They’re the ones later on that will be directly affected by the decision-makers who represent them. Youth are constantly repressed. Take for example the increase of the age of consent (age of protection) that was passed on May 1, 2008 by the federal government. In my opinion, increasing the age of consent takes away from youth’s autonomy around their own sexual decision-making and  increasing punishments for young offenders puts them in a state of constant fear. In my opinion, more money should be invested in community-based prevention to empower them instead of using youth vulnerability to create new laws.
   
Still, our youth should not wait until an election campaign to get involved. There are many social movements to be involved in that can have a direct impact in their respective communities. Making sure youth are informed about their rights as a citizen and to vote when its time on who would better represent them is, in my opinion, a way to be an active member of society. I mean the power is now. Youth, go ahead, get involved and take your place!
 

For you, is there a connection between art and democracy? What is it?

Not to denigrate its power but at times, I feel that certain sides of democracy withhold the art of mastering hypocrisy. But to answer the question, technically yes! Both democracy and art are closely related, the outcome is the freedom of expression for all.

Why do you care about community when it is so easy not to?

Born and raised in Quebec. I come from a marginalized neighborhood in the east end of Montreal called St-Michel, I went through a myriad of obstacles as a black man growing up; injustice was forever present and felt in many ways. That’s why I care; I’ve never liked this sense of inequality because of social class, race, and religion. I became proactive before understanding what the word actually meant. Often exposed in my music; empowering myself and people going through the same inequalities was something I always looked for. So to get involved in  community-based prevention was a natural process in my evolution, it’s a direct response to my personal experience. Also, I’ve studied paralegal technology and now, I work as the legal coordinator for Head and Hands, offering free legal information to any youth between 12 and 25 years old, giving them as many options as possible in order to make informed decisions on how to proceed to solve their legal issues.

What do you look for in a politician? What do you expect from your MP?

Good intentions behind his (her) words followed by action. I expect from our MP immediate concrete changes in policy concerning of our environment.

	Sundance MP3
	Websites www.myspace.com/wyzah www.dailymotion.com/video/x7cvqb_sundance-waahli-aka-wyzah_music