From Spice Girls to Samba to Afro House, Quest University students are embracing a wide range of music.
Quest Nights feature students and other local artists who play and DJ music in a variety of songs and styles with tunes from around the world.
The university shuttles some 100 students to the Knotty Burl once a month to enjoy different genres of music and good vibes, with the student union providing assistants to chaperone the event and ensure students feel safe.
Quest student Daniel Ellis organizes Quest Nights once a month over the school year. The diversity of sounds, artists and performers, and different perspectives on art, he says, are what he aims for at each event. As an international student and music lover himself, hearing sounds from other parts of the world is important to him.
"We're lucky to have a really vibrant international community at Quest," he said. "I really value musical diversity because it's interesting, fresh. It's, in a way, like musical tourism. It's so exciting to hear sounds people bring from different parts of the world."
Featuring different kinds of music helps give a positive representation of different cultures in the arts, he said.
"For us to see those people in the spotlight in positions where we're appreciating their art I think is really important," he said. "It's a really healing activity for society."
Some performers this year included the band Buckwheat composed of Quest students from the West Coast, and a DJ set featuring "old school" hip-hop, pop and RnB music from the 90's and 2000's; and funk and soul tunes from B.C.-based vocalist and DJ Erica Dee.
And for the last event of the year, organizers have planned something different. Visiting faculty member Tobias van Veen will DJ with three students from his Afrofuturism class, incorporating themes the students learned during his course into the music they play. Afrofuturism is an artistic and cultural movement that brings together themes of African and black identity with technology. Marvel's Black Panther movie is an example of how art can fit into this genre.
Student DJs will also play a mix of genres that represent the countries they come from, including Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa.
"We all represent our origins sonically," he said.
Dub, Funk, Hip-hop, House, Electro and Techno will be played. **
Most performers and attendees are students, but he hopes, in the future, to have artists come from across the globe. Ellis also hopes to grow Quest Nights and get more people from the community involved in performing and supporting the events.
The final event of the year "Mothership: Tunes from Afrofuturism and Beyond" will take place March 30 at the Knotty Burl. See facebook.com/questnights for details.
**Please note, this story has been updated to more accurately represent the types of music that organizers say will be played at the upcoming event.
