As a tribute to the students at Columbia University who have been protesting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ottawa-based singer/songwriter Christophe Elie has penned the new single “Columbia.” The song is in support of those calling for a ceasefire and the separation of the university from arms manufacturers and the war industry.
Elie has followed the Israeli Palestinian struggle. His interest in world affairs stems from his mother who was arrested in the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s. “She is my main source of context and inspiration,” he says.
Seeing a parallel between the Columbia protests and the courageous activism of the ’60s, Elie penned the folky, introspective tune with the chorus of Columbia /The conscience of the people /Columbia/ The students’ cry for peace.
Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/4e1DFfipa3RWdDGNzqJ0PO
“After the Hamas attack on October 7, I followed events daily and was hopeful in that first week, when Biden traveled to Israel. I thought, ‘He’ll help outline a path forward. He’ll lower the temperature.’ But it was just the opposite,” says Elie. “Then the students stood up! I thought ‘fuck – finally someone is standing up and saying this just isn’t right.’”
He also felt that the students were being thoughtful, and mindful in the protests, even though they were painted as just the opposite in the media. “The students were not being honoured; they were being portrayed as troublemakers, as antisemitic, yet the protests had considerable Jewish representation,” he notes.
The international multi-faith student movement gained momentum earlier this year, and even in to this new student semester, after students at Columbia University occupied the campus’ historic Hamilton Hall, renaming it ‘Hind’s Hall,’ after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Gazan girl who died along 6 members of her family on the streets of Gaza as they fled the city.
“Columbia University is like the coal mine and the students are the canaries,” Elie asserts. “These recent encampment protests mirror the Columbia University student occupation in 1968, when students and faculty raised their voices about the Vietnam War, just prior to the Kent State shootings. This new student uprising is a warning to our society and it’s a red flag being raised.”
In fact, the song was written specifically in the spirit of Neil Young’s “Ohio” about Kent State.
Christophe Elie is in the midst of recording his third full length album. As a political folk singer, he is driven to write music when he sees injustice. He is a bilingual artist who has written songs about Canadian Indigenous relations, Quebec’s discriminatory Bill C-21, war and peace, and the international emigration crisis.
“Columbia” was recorded locally with producer Gareth Auden Hole and was mastered by legendary music producer Rob Fraboni (The Last Waltz), treated with his groundbreaking RealFeel ™ technology. The song features Juno Award winner Matt Sobb (MonkeyJunk) on drums, Indigenous artist David Finkle on bass and banjo, Susan Murphy and Jill Shipley on backup vocals, and James Renaud on congas.
All proceeds from the song will go to UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to support their work in Gaza.
“It’s often hard to make sense of why things are happening in this world,” Elie muses. “Songs are a way to shine a different kind of light on a topic and break it down to help us better understand it. And at a time when artists are silenced, and poets like Refaat Alareer are dying in this conflict, it’s incumbent on all artists to step up and share their voices.”
