We welcome Huilly Huile for a special guest DJ mix inspired by the isolation and uncertainty of current times, and which he dedicates to the cause of migrants on a hunger strike at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre.

Huilly Huile was set to DJ our Spring vernissage, but given the current COVID-19 crisis, we had to push our seasonal gathering to a later (still unknown) date, when it will be safe to open our center again. We thus invited him to make a mix instead that we could share with you.

Huilly Huile is a Rwandese-Canadian DJ & radio show host based in Montreal. His eclectic sets present a wide range of club music and african rhythms, but he’s always breaking new sounds and providing classic tracks for dancefloors. He’s played local events like Moonshine, Palma Disco & Festival Chromatic but is also very active in East Africa. He was featured on the lineup for the Ugandan festival Nyege Nyege & more recently he played a very well received warm up set at Boiler Room in Nairobi.

When he’s not DJ’ing, he co-hosts the Échantillons, a french language radio show about African aesthetics in music, offering equal parts critical listening, cultural and political commentary. He is also the producer and host of the Santuri Signal, a Podcast on East African music that gives voice to artists shaping innovative and alternative sounds in the region.

For this mix, Huilly Huile trades his usual afro-eclecticism for grittier electronic sounds, channelling some of the heaviness many have been feeling in this time of crisis. Inspired by isolation and the uncertainty about what the future holds for working class & marginalized communities around the world, this is an attempt to summon the energy to shake off apathy.

About the Migrant’s Hunger Strike

Migrants detained at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre have launched an indefinite hunger strike to demand their release in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around 30 men are currently being held on the men’s side of the detention centre. The ten hunger-strikers are refusing all meals, despite pressure from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to desist. Like other prisoners across Canada and around the world, they are demanding to be released for their own safety. Read their statement here.

We are joining the detainees to demand the immediate release of everyone currently detained, safe and decent housing for everyone released, and an end to new detentions

Find out more about this cause here.