BBA student rewarded for his narrative talent
Concours U en spectacle
April 10, 2024
Songa Bahati Manassé, a BBA student in project management at HEC Montréal, was awarded second prize at the national finals of the U en spectacle competition held on March 23, at the Theatre Plaza in Montréal.
“Although I was aiming for the sun (1st place), I landed on the moon (2nd place) instead. I felt happy when the jury announced me as the winner of the second prize, because twice before, I had reached the final round of an artistic competition, only to come away empty-handed.”
While HEC Montréal was a first-time participant, this slammer, poet, spoken-word artist and storyteller who goes by the stage name Leslamo proudly represented the School by competing against 9 other finalists from Quebec universities and different performing arts.
He interpreted a tale inspired by the Ivorian storytelling company Bak’in Gado and presented ‘Hope’, a slam that he composed himself.
A jury composed of three well-known performing artists from Quebec, rapper Calamine, DJ and composer Robert Robert, and multidisciplinary actor Guillaume Lambert, was responsible for deciding between the finalists and naming the three winning acts.
“He is a super charismatic person, who knew how to mix cultural references like storytelling and slam in a very skillful way, which we found captivating.”
Songa Bahati Manassé, alias Leslamo, in brief
Age: 26
City: Montreal
Start of artistic career: 2015
Artistic influences: Yekima De bel Art and Cayla Slam
About U en spectacle
This is an annual inter-university competition that encourages the performing arts, supports the emergence of young amateur talents from the university student community, and promotes the use of the French language.
Orchestrated by the Cultural Activities of UdeM Student Life Services, this event is funded by the En français naturellement! program of the Ministry of the French Language of Quebec.