Interviews

Qualité Motel is a group of friends who had the brilliant idea of ​​mixing DJ sets, remixes, mash-ups, and original compositions to offer a mega-party to the audience. The audience is also involved in the show, making each performance unique. For their performance at Coup de coeur francophone, several guest artists will be featured, including Aiza, a Toronto-based artist who will be traveling for the occasion, and many others. The event will take place at Belmont on November 7th with a “turnkey” concept. Keithy Antoine spoke with Luis Clavis, a member of Valaire, for PAN M 360 to learn more about this original concept.

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You may have discovered her in our special feature on Folk Alliance International, as she was part of the line-up for the most recent edition. This time, Mimi O’Bonsawin will be opening for Dumas at Coup de coeur francophone, an artist she didn’t know before this pairing but is delighted to discover in a context like this. This Franco-Ontarian and Abenaki artist is a member of the Odanak First Nation. Her music praises the earth and the land, and her songs are rhythmic, magical and narrative, as she loves to tell stories through her music. She will share her new single P8gwas, a love song to the moon, and she talks about it in more detail with Keithy Antoine in this interview for PAN M 360.

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You may have seen him as a presenter on the Radio-Canada series Pa t’mentir, or as an actor. But this time, Irdens Exantus will be wearing his singer-songwriter hat during his show on 7 November at Le Ministère. This will be his first performance at Coup de coeur francophone, and for the occasion, he will unveil the songs from his micro-album entitled Les journées longues (The Long Days), in which he talks about loneliness, joy, love and many other emotions he experienced during and after the pandemic. He discusses this with Keithy Antoine, one of his co-hosts on the series Pa t’mentir, for PAN M 360.

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Rosie Valland, a well-established figure on the Quebec music scene, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of her debut album Partir avant with a show presented by Coup de Cœur Francophone (CCF) on 15 November. PANM360 caught up with her to see how she’s doing.

PAN M 360: Hello Rose, how’s your autumn going? Everything okay?

Rosie Valland: Yes! Except that I’ve lost my voice… It’s pretty much the worst nightmare for a singer with a slight tendency towards hypochondria. Luckily, my boyfriend reassures me every day that my voice will come back. It’s just a cold, after all! Otherwise, I have a busy autumn ahead of me with lots of exciting projects. I’ve been assisting set designer Geneviève Lizotte for almost a year now, which keeps me pretty busy and creative… In addition to putting together a beautiful show that’s fast approaching.

PAN M 360: On November 15, you will be performing at CCF to celebrate the 10th anniversary of your first album, Partir Avant. An anniversary like this inevitably prompts reflection. When you think back to the time of Partir Avant, what memories do you have? What did you want to say at that time?

Rosie Valland: It’s really nice to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve been through over the past 10 years. Ten years ago, I was literally just starting out in the music world, but more importantly, I was building a whole social circle that still follows me today. The connection I have with Jesse Mac Cormack and Jean-Philippe Levac, the memories, the artistic complicity… it’s precious. For the past two weeks, we’ve been saying to each other how lucky we are to have experienced all this. And honestly, it’s fun to dive back into that album, because it’s from another era. It’s a way of making music that contrasts sharply with the current era. It’s an album recorded without a click track, where nothing is tuned, and where, in fact, nothing is perfect. And that’s what feels good. It will certainly inspire me to make a sequel.

PAN M 360: When you look back on the journey you’ve been on over the past 10 years, how do you feel?

Rosie Valland: Hmm… that’s a big question. It’s a constant effort, given my personality, to cultivate pride. I think that over the past 10 years, I’ve often been hurt by a difficult, mercenary and somewhat misogynistic industry (oops, I said it!). But it’s my love for creation and art that has always driven me, and honestly, that’s perhaps what I’m most proud of: always having brought an approach, a point of view, and sincerity to what I did – whether it was rock or more pop.

PAN M 360: What do you have in store for us on November 15 ? What will the format be?

I’ll be with the original band! Jesse and Jean-Philippe. We’re going to play the album Partir avant in its entirety and in order, with guest artists Safia Nolin and Antoine Corriveau, who will both come and sing a song. I can also tell you that we’ll be in the centre of the room – so we can all experience it together. Ah! And… I can’t wait!

Rosie Valland will be performing on 15 November at Le Ministère as part of Coup de cœur francophone.

Photo : Lawrence Fafard | Graphisme : Antoine Corriveau

This is the 26th edition of the Montreal Arab World Festival, and the FMA is unfolding in a more difficult context than ever before. Toxic debates on immigration can spill over into the peaceful territory of culture, as Joseph Nakhlé, artistic director and founder of the FMA, can attest. The increasingly toxic climate surrounding immigration has led his team to suspend the thematic editions, which aimed to build bridges between Arab culture and the other cultures with which it interacts today.

All the more reason to seek refuge in mythical Andalusia, the land of convivencia, which refers to the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of different (often religious) communities within the same society, as was the case in Andalusia during the Moorish rule and its tolerant regimes towards the Jews and Christians who lived there for nearly eight centuries on the Iberian Peninsula. This Andalusian culture still exists today, and its manifestations are scattered throughout the 26th FMA. In complete harmony.

This content is produced in partnership with La Vitrine culturelle, with the aim of promoting the culture of all regions of Quebec through PAN M 360 content.

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PAN M 360: In an increasingly difficult intercultural context, the FMA continues its mission nonetheless. How so, Joseph?

Joseph Nakhlé: The global context is extremely turbulent at the moment, but we are persisting and signing, that is to say, we are continuing to spread Arab culture internationally and locally.

PAN M 360: That’s what you’ve been doing since the late 1990s, and it continues, for better or worse.

Joseph Nakhlé: Yes, as you know, since you’ve been with us since the first edition. It’s not a space that seeks to promote Arab culture; it’s a festival that celebrates the Arab world in its connections with the rest of the world.

PAN M 360: That’s a very important distinction, indeed.

Joseph Nakhlé: The FMA is not an identity-based festival. We are not here to celebrate Arab nationalism or the political Arab world. On the contrary, our Arab world is a world of connections with the Persians, the Spanish, the Indians, the Asians, the Quebecois, the French… It is the Arab world in its connections with the world. That is to say, everywhere the Arab world has been, where it is today, and where it will be tomorrow.

You and I live in the West, and there have always been Arab influences throughout the West for a very long time. So it is an Arab world that is culturally connected to the world. And it is also an Arab culture that suffers, that suffers from a failed modernity, but a modernity that is still desired. The Arab world was in contact with this ideal of the Enlightenment, it saw a certain renaissance begin to emerge.

But this renaissance was stifled by the West. In any case, the West contributed enormously to this stifling. Since the Second World War, the West has been very negative towards Arab democratic and civilizational development.

PAN M 360: Today, many people still have the impression that the Arab world is synonymous with strict Islam, which is completely false.

Joseph Nakhlé: Thirty years ago, we rejected the PLO, then we financed Hamas… and now we find ourselves with a Hamas that we cannot accept. And there was a secular Palestinian resistance movement which, at one point, accepted Israel’s existence. There was hope for peace. All of that fell apart because the politics and geopolitics of the Western world were built on objectives other than peace and fairness.

PAN M 360: In short, the FMA is not a festival celebrating the political Arab world.

Joseph Nakhlé: The FMA is there to show that the Arab world, and Arab culture in particular, is a diverse culture. There are many artistic scenes, groups of artists who are trying, creating, producing, etc. But there, we are still stuck in archaic structures, still far from achieving a modernity that we can enjoy. So, it is an Arab world that is out of step with the Western world, but it is also stifled by that Western world.

PAN M 360: But things are different here with the FMA.

Joseph Nakhlé: From the outset, we promoted the idea of a space dedicated to cultural encounters, a space dedicated to exchange, and therefore to the possibility of proposing, being heard and listening. The very existence of the FMA came from this need to reconcile two identities: the culture from which we originate and the culture to which we belong, which is Western Quebec culture. So the FMA wanted to be a place for dialogue, a place for exchange.

PAN M 360: You always had themed editions to highlight this dual identity.

Joseph Nakhlé: Yes, but this year we announced the suspension of themes. Since Gaza, there’s no need to beat around the bush; the ideal of the Enlightenment to which the FMA has aspired since its inception has collapsed before our eyes. And how has the Western world dealt with this tragedy in Gaza? This lack of willingness to face up to something that we see unfolding before our eyes and that is absolutely incompatible with our values. We see these values collapsing before our eyes! So we said to ourselves, what’s the point, if there is no longer any exchange, if there is no longer any listening, what’s the point of holding thematic editions that propose dialogue?

PAN M 360: What do you mean by ‘there is no longer any exchange’?

Joseph Nakhlé: I don’t know if you’ve had time to browse the FMA’s social media pages: they are full of hatred, racism and threats. This is the first time we have seen such a large number of hateful messages. We’re talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of aggressive and threatening messages. So we said to ourselves, we did the right thing in not proposing a theme, because it’s clear that dialogue has broken down, that there’s no room for it anymore.

PAN M 360: But these are far-right, ultra-conservative people who intervene wherever they can be seen and who have probably targeted you. You are among the victims of this phenomenon.

Joseph Nakhlé: Possibly, but before..

PAN M 360: What has changed?

Joseph Nakhlé: When comments like that were made, native Quebecers would respond on our social media to defend us. Now, we see that those voices are no longer there. The reality is that this dialogue has become very, very difficult and painful. And we are unable to handle it. That’s why we decided to stop discussing these issues and do what we know how to do, which is to present the performing arts. Once again, we can hope for something because I think that art, culture and music are not just slogans. I think culture is the last refuge against intolerance, against these stupid and unfounded notions.

So for us, that’s it, we’re taking a break, we’re no longer in reflection mode, we’re in support mode for a scene we love because what we offer and everything that comes from this Arab culture can be, as we’ve seen over the course of these 26 editions, a subject for reflection, a subject for creation, a subject for producing something new. I think that Arab culture is still a very rich culture, capable of inspiring us who live here in Montreal.

PAN M 360: Historically, you have always attracted a mix of diverse Eastern communities, not only Lebanese, but also Egyptians, North Africans, Kurds, Iranians, Turks, etc. And you also had a large proportion of native Quebecers who were curious to immerse themselves in other cultures. With the rise of intolerance towards immigration, are you forced to serve an even more community-based market?

Joseph Nakhlé: Yes, and that’s unfortunate. In 2006, we had our peak year in terms of ticket sales, with $425,000 in ticket revenue, which was huge for a festival like ours. At the time, our audience was mainly native Quebecers. In 2007, things changed with the reasonable accommodation crisis, and we saw that proportion drop to 10%. The FMA took a hit. Today, we are very vulnerable.

PAN M 360: So you are victims of this change in perception.

Joseph Nakhlé: Indeed. After 2007, we managed to recover, but not to the same extent as before. Today, we see that last year’s audience was made up of about 40% native Quebecers.

PAN M 360: That’s still 40%!

Joseph Nakhlé: Our concern is to see what will happen next. We didn’t conduct our own survey this year, but we hope we won’t see the same phenomenon as in 2007, i.e. another dramatic drop in the participation of native Quebecers. In any case, we are sensing a rise in Islamophobia, Arabophobia, call it what you will. And so, Arabness is becoming a bit like other forms of racial or cultural intolerance.

PAN M 360: You have decided to continue, to persevere. And PAN M 360 will continue to support you! So where are we going this year?

Joseph Nakhlé: We’re heading for mythical Andalusia. For Arabs, it’s a refuge. Andalusia, for us, is convivencia. It’s the place where Arab culture succeeded in offering a viable model of living together. Of course, the Andalusia we have in our dreams is not what Andalusia really was. But even so, the power of the myth here is significant. If Andalusia was a land of convivencia, if this Arab culture succeeded in offering the world a model of coexistence between Jews, Christians and Muslims, in a common desire, then for us today, this is perhaps the symbolic place that will save us from ourselves.

PAN M 360: How does this manifest itself?

Joseph Nakhlé: You can see it in the programme. For example, Olé Persia, the opening concert, is flamenco that goes back to its gypsy roots, but with a little bit of Iranian and Arabic influence. Olé Persia celebrates this connection. Then we have other shows that explore Andalusia through a female lens, where women celebrate and perpetuate this musical tradition that was traditionally reserved for men, but in which women have played a significant role throughout history.

So here we have five women, five projects celebrating Andalusia through a female lens. La Mia Aït Amara, Lila Borsali. In the same spirit of mythical Andalusia, we have the themed evenings Y Una Noche and Songe d’une nuit andalouse.

PAN M 360: Which is a progressive choice in itself. And, as in previous years, you are seeking to showcase emerging talent.

Joseph Nakhlé: Exactly. We have some new names in the line-up, such as the Lebanese singer Moeen Shreif, who will be performing at the closing ceremony. He is a great artist, somewhat in the vein of quality Lebanese pop, and somewhat the heir to a great name in Lebanon, Wadih El Safi.

PAN M 360: So we’ll see each other several times between now and November 16!

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His face may look familiar to you: we interviewed Grooz a few weeks ago as part of MUZ, and now he’s back with a whole new project for the 26th edition of the Festival du monde arabe. This isn’t his first time participating, and he even considers the festival to be like family. When he arrived in Quebec nearly 10 years ago, the festival included him in its programme, which opened many doors for him afterwards. This year, the show Diwane will feature not only new compositions by the artist, which he will share in a future album of the same name, but also revisited covers of old songs. He talks about it with Keithy Antoine in this interview for PAN M 360.

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In partnership with Oktoecho and the Najaa el Fen Festival, this show is part of the Performing Arts section of the Arab World Festival and aims to bring together young people from Quebec and Tunisia. Unfortunately, the young Tunisians were unable to come to Montreal as planned, but the organizers remain hopeful for next year. By combining traditional Tunisian songs with traditional Quebec songs, for example, some young people have created remarkable works that reflect their era. Keithy Antoine spoke with Katia Makdissi-Warren, who herself embodies this duality, being half Lebanese and half Quebecois.

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Ya Ghorbati means ‘My exile’ in Arabic, and that is the title of the evening of 8 November. Featured in the series Andalousie au féminin, Lila Borsali is preparing to arrive in Montreal with a team of nine people. A regular at the Festival du monde arabe, she always comes with a different and unique project. It is important to her that audiences have a context in which to immerse themselves when they come to see her show. Having been well-rehearsed in Algeria and elsewhere, the show is ready to meet Montreal audiences. Keithy Antoine spoke with Lila Borsali a few days before the show on November 8 at the Cinquième Salle.

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He is half Moroccan, half Quebecois and has been immersed in both cultures since a young age. Travelling to Morocco every summer during his childhood, Amine Benarqia developed a special bond with the country, which sparked his passion for Gnawa music, a style his father loved. The guembri has been his instrument of choice ever since, and he still plays it today. He will be using it to showcase all the facets of Gnawa music on 14 November at Espace Kawalees. He talks about it with Keithy Antoine in this interview for PAN M 360.

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Inspired by the Song of Songs, the world of Cantiques de l’amour is a musical adventure featuring the spellbinding Sufi singer Khaled Al-Hafez, bearer of Syrian memory, and the magical contralto Gabrielle Cloutier, whose voice shapes inner landscapes. They will be accompanied by the 36-member Ensemble Vox choir. They have prepared an eclectic repertoire that will address all stages of an individual’s life through music. Alain Vadeboncoeur is a regular at the Festival du monde arabe, now in his fifth year of participation. This year, he wanted to collaborate with Gabrielle Cloutier, and the two spoke with Keithy Antoine for PAN M 360.

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He’s being hailed as the one redefining the contours of Raï music. His melancholic voice lends itself perfectly to the themes of nostalgia and love often associated with this genre. At only 25, Chazil is already making waves. 2025 will be a landmark year for this young man from Constantine, in northeastern Algeria. He’s already put on a remarkable show in Paris, another in Jordan, and now he’s preparing to come to Montreal for the very first time for the Festival du Monde Arabe. He’ll be accompanied by Montreal-based musicians, and together they’ll introduce Montrealers to Raï 2.0. Sandra Gasana spoke with him live from Algiers for PAN M 360.

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Today we’re talking about Ziad Rahbani (1956-2025), a great musician, reformer, and visionary of oriental jazz. It’s also worth mentioning that he was the son of Fayrouz, the Levantine superdiva whom some consider the greatest Lebanese singer of all time. His late father, Assy Rahbani, was one of Fayrouz’s two main songwriters. Ziad Rahbani died on July 26th from kidney problems; he was 69 years old.

Music lovers with a passion for modern oriental music, classical Arabic music, and modern jazz may be familiar with the historical importance of Ziad Rahbani and his contribution to music. A complete artist, he was also a lyricist and playwright. His tragicomic plays were imbued with a profound opposition to religious or communal sectarianism, and his leftist leanings were also well-known in Lebanon.

His progressive stance, always marginal in Lebanon and the region, had led him to gradually withdraw from active cultural life, to the point of living in seclusion in his Hamra home in Beirut and rarely leaving his house. What Ziad dreamed of did not come to pass in his country; disappointment, demobilization, and isolation preceded his physical death.

A sad decline, a sad end, it’s truly regrettable. Ziad Rahbani remains no less important, and expatriate Lebanese and Beirut artists (for obvious reasons) have undertaken to pay tribute to him with a musical and theatrical performance of his work. Since everyone should discover the art of this great Lebanese artist and visionary, PAN M 360 presents this interview with Johnny El Hage, a man of the theater and a great admirer of Ziad Rahbani.

THIS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD AT THE CLAUDE-LÉVEILLÉE HALL OF THE PDA

PAN M 360: This blend that Ziad offered was quite unique and, unfortunately, little known to Western audiences. This November 3rd is an opportunity for the Montreal public to experience it. Late, too late, but… better late than never. Johnny El Hage, you’ve created a show—tell us about it!

Johnny El Hage: It’s a journey into the world of Ziad Rahbani. We’ll focus on his music and theatre, as well as radio programs he produced between 1965 and 1990. And we’ll also reflect a bit on his political ideas as expressed in his work.

PAN M 360: Because he was very political, indeed. Very left-wing, he sharply criticized all the Lebanese governments in power under which he lived.

Johnny El Hage: He even supported Hezbollah at times, which he sometimes tended to see as a Lebanese resistance force rather than a terrorist organization. So, yes, he was a controversial figure. For a long time, he was an advocate for the resistance, and therefore anti-establishment. He was very left-wing. He was even close to the Communist Party.

What’s special about him is that he comes from a family whose political stance is diametrically opposed to this one. In his twenties, he left his family in East Beirut and moved to the west of the city during the civil war. His music and theater inevitably reflected his political vision. He longed for a shared life, a recognition of the other—the other Lebanese—whom we still don’t know, of a different religion, a different way of thinking, a different conviction.

PAN M 360: He therefore wanted the reconciliation of the Lebanese factions and also a unified response from Lebanon towards Israel and all forces deemed imperialist.

Johnny El Hage: Yes, he tried to dismantle national divisions. He tried to live with the Muslims of Beirut, he worked with them, he did everything in his power to make the Christians of Lebanon understand that their Muslim compatriots were much less different from them than they thought. And that these Muslims were fighting against the Israeli occupation of the country, and that they also wanted equality.

PAN M 360: Let’s try to quickly see his contribution to music. Ziad created songs but also a modern jazz including Cuban, Brazilian and, of course, Arabic music.

Johnny El Hage: He was a pioneer in integrating modern Arabic music and classical Arabic music into jazz. He even diverted the original work of his mother, Fayrouz, his father, Assy, and his uncle, Mansour. The Rahbani brothers and their interpreter, Fayrouz, were very romantic and traditional in their songs, their aim being to bring joy, hope, and dreams to the Lebanese people. And when Ziad wrote songs for his mother (after his father’s death), Fayrouz deviated from this approach. Now expressed in a language (or dialect) closer to the people, Fayrouz’s songs evoked the daily lives of ordinary people, what humans were truly experiencing in Beirut and Lebanon—poverty, political violence, and so on.

PAN M 360: And his theatre was also expressed in this way, one imagines.

Johnny El Hage: That political theater was brilliant. And during the civil war, he performed in both West and East Beirut. He played for Christians and for Muslims. It was also one of his very strong critiques of those in power. It was his struggle, and it’s still our struggle. His tragicomic theater provoked laughter and tears by reflecting our everyday realities. Even if our lives were shit, we could laugh about it after crying—or vice versa.

PAN M 360: Formally, how was his theatre structured?

Johnny El Hage: Ziad wrote scripts inspired by ordinary people from all corners of the city. These ordinary people were involved and expressed their concerns on stage through Ziad’s texts. His actors were therefore citizens who had other daily jobs besides art or theater—bartender, day laborer, reporter, etc.

PAN M 360: At some point, we were told, this theatre ceased to exist. Why?

Johnny El Hage: Yes, in the late 1990s, he stopped doing theater. He said he no longer knew what to say, that he had said everything he had to say because nothing had changed on the political scene in Lebanon. He gradually isolated himself while dedicating himself to music.

PAN M 360: How did you put together this show dedicated to Ziad?

Johnny El Hage: We’ve incorporated excerpts from his plays and radio programs. There’s narration drawn from his plays, monologues, and even his personal diary. We’ve also included his songs and music that reflect the political situation and the life we ​​experienced there. Many of his songs, which we know by heart, were introduced to us through his plays. So, we’ve taken some of his songs that were composed and released in concerts, others from theatrical pieces, and we’ve blended them with some of his theatrical works—a few theatrical monologues—from four different plays created between 1975 and 1995. It’s a combination, in a way, of this colossal work encompassing music, theater, radio, and politics.

PAN M 360: Let’s also talk about his music. An excellent pianist and composer, Ziad mixed Arabic, modern, popular and classical music with modern and contemporary jazz, even fusing jazz with soul, funk, Cuban or Brazilian music.

Johnny El Hage: Ziad refused the label “Arab jazz.” He said no, it’s not Arab jazz, it’s jazz and other world music with Arab elements.

PAN M 360: Was it important for you to put on this show, to what extent?

Johnny El Hage: When Ziad died on July 26th, people started calling me and asking what I would do. Without any plan, without any preparation, people spontaneously showed up at our cultural space dedicated to Arabic expression. Not just regular customers, but also musicians and actors. And in four days, we put together a show with about ten artists.

We then realized together our love and admiration for his work. That’s why we proposed refining this spontaneous concept for presentation at the FMA, with actors, singers, and musicians—oud, keyboards, bass, percussion, violin, trumpet, guitar. A wonderful fusion of instruments, both Arabic and Western.

PAN M 360: In memory of Ziad, whose work survives him and will survive him.

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