“I just really want students to genuinely feel welcome at this student welcome”
Photo courtesy of Rowan Grice.
For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Victoria hosted the New Student Welcome in the Centre for Athletics, Recreation, and Special Abilities (CARSA) on Sept. 2.
Also for the first time since the pandemic, CFUV 101.9FM –– UVic’s campus and community radio station –– DJed the event.
Rowan Grice, CFUV’s station manager, said that the station has DJed at campus kickoffs and Thunderfest in the past. When UVic reached out to them about DJing at the New Student Welcome, the radio station was thrilled.
Grice said that CFUV’s presence at the New Student Welcome was important because it gave the station a chance to engage with new students at the beginning of their university careers.
“A lot of students end up finding out about the station a year in, maybe at the end of their degree,” said Grice. “We hear that a lot from students: ‘I wish I knew earlier,’”
Grice asked Ravessa Fejzullai, a UVic student and host of the CFUV show Piano Piano to DJ for the event. The focus of the show is Amapiano, a genre of music originating in South Africa that combines house, jazz, soul, and kwaito music, among others.
After an exchange to the University of Essex, U.K., for 6 months, Fejzullai fell in love with Amapiano and the culture surrounding it, and wanted to bring it to the island, as well as act as a conduit and platform for the Amapiano community.
Fejzullai told the Martlet that the goal of the show is to encourage listeners to explore different genres of music from around the world. “I really love the music,” said Fejzullai. “It’s almost an obsession at this point.”
Fejzullai has been working with CFUV since December 2024. While relatively new to DJing, the station has been instrumental in initiating and supporting Fejzullai’s dream of being a DJ.
“[CFUV’s] belief in me has allowed me to pursue this dream and see it through,” she said.
Fejzullai said being asked to DJ for the event inspired her to “keep it up and practice [DJing] even more than I already was, which was a good step for me.” The New Student Welcome was Fejzullai’s first paid gig.
“I think that DJing is … you’re a vibe curator,” said Fejzullai. “You’re creating the atmosphere.” The curation of energy and atmosphere, Fejzullai said, is what inspired her to be a DJ.
At the New Student Welcome, the atmosphere Fejzullai was looking to curate for the new students to UVic was a welcoming one. She aimed to play fun, uplifting songs that would inspire the crowd.
For Fejzullai, music is a way to foster community. “Especially for first-years coming to UVic — you don’t know anyone. I was there four, five years ago. It’s intimidating, and sometimes it’s not until you look over, and see someone singing your favourite song, that you go over and sing it with them, and then you become friends,” she said.
In line with the goals of Piano Piano, Fejzullai wanted to introduce students to a wide variety of music from within Canada and abroad, fostering cultural appreciation.
“I’m a firm believer in people bonding and creating community within music,” said Fejzullai. “I think it’s important to share different voices and different types of sounds within music, and to just have that as recognition of all the different kinds of people that live in what we now call Canada.
“I want a Student Welcome where every student, regardless of where they come from, they feel like, ‘okay maybe UVic is the place for me.’”
In a statement to the Martlet after the welcome, Fejzullai said that “it was such a great opportunity and great experience for me. I think it went well, I had a couple of people approach me outside the [SUB] a couple of hours after the event to ask me about the music I had played!”
Grice also said in a statement that CFUV has already had students coming to the station and to their table at Campus Kickoff, explaining that they found out about the radio station from the welcome event.
Fejzullai’s radio show, Piano Piano is broadcast on Tuesdays at 3pm on 101.9FM. CFUV keeps recordings of episodes on their website under the “shows” tab for one week.
