JASHIM: REWRITING SYSTEMS AT CTRL+ALT FESTIVAL

Ctrl+Alt Festival is more than just another event on Montreal’s cultural calendar, it’s a statement and celebration of the underground heart of the city! The festival unites six collectives and organizations that shape the city’s nightlife, offering a 100% local program, free and open to all, right in the heart of the Village. Through live performances, DJ sets, drag, dance, and burlesque, Ctrl+Alt creates space for alternative voices and stories often overlooked in the mainstream.

For BARCODE, this mission deeply aligns with our own: celebrating underground art, fashion, and music while amplifying marginalized communities that keep culture alive. Festivals like Ctrl+Alt protect the heartbeat of Montreal’s nightlife, giving artists a safe platform to express, resist, and reimagine the world through their art.

One of those voices was JASHIM, a Colombian-born artist and political refugee whose work blends reggaeton roots with revolutionary energy, cultural memory, and experimental multimedia visions. We had the chance to have a quick chat after their performance to discover who they are as an artist, and how their culture influences their music!

WRITTEN BY ROCHELLE ALLEN

Photography: Pablo Gaytan Melendez 

JASHIM (Jashim Emilia Rodriguez) is a rising non-binary Colombian musician and multidisciplinary artist within Montréal’s underground scene. Growing up in El Chocó’s Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, they emigrated to Canada in the early 2000s. Their sound fuses experimental club, urbano textures and avant-garde electronic influences.

In 2018, they joined Ubisoft, contributing to 17 major video game titles such as "Assassin’s Creed", "Star Wars" and "Avatar". That same year, they began DJing, culminating in their debut single Summer 19 (2020) and the EP Cuando aprendí a Hablar (2021), which featured a short film. Following up with their debut album, RW (2022), their sophomore album 777 (2025), and their most recent EP, R3 (2026).

They’ve performed for Boiler Room and curated parties in Puerto Escondido and in Montreal, for Billboard Canada's M Montreal Official Afterparty: Lil Visions XR Takes Over Datcha, where they showcased an exclusive first listen to their upcoming EP, Lil Visions (2026).

Their practice explores the intersection of cybernetic culture, experimental music, and immersive environments. With a bold approach, they continue to craft high-impact performances that blur the lines between digital art and sonic ritual while merging underground club aesthetics, interactive technology, and diasporic storytelling to shape new worlds in the landscape of reggaeton and multimedia art.

Photography: Pablo Gaytan Melendez 

Rochelle: For your performance, what does it represent?

“A system that has been written by men can always be unwritten.”

Jashim: Yeah, I had a sign, and it was reading that. Which is true, we have to kind of form a new way of life. I'm a political refugee from Colombia, and I'm half Indigenous community in Colombia. And personally, that's why I think I have to do that in music and in my art.

Rochelle: What made you start making music?

Jashim: I started doing music when I was studying software engineering. I was doing a video and had to put some sounds in it, and I just loved it so much. Before, I thought people who made music were these magical individuals, like only they could do that. Now I realize everyone can!

It’s the thing I enjoy most. That’s why I want to mix music and multimedia arts with holograms and video games to bring new worlds, new imaginary spaces to life.

Rochelle: How do you describe your music style?

Jashim: My music style is mostly based on reggaeton. That’s my foundation. But I’m starting to do more post-fun and other things. Reggaeton is a pretty new genre, so I think it’s going to evolve like hip hop with lots of sub-branches.

So I’d categorize myself as reggaeton, but as part of a new wave of reggaeton.

Rochelle: What do you love the most about performing?

Jashim: Honestly? I get really stressed about performing, it’s not my favourite part of the music thing. I’m still trying to get used to it.

What I do love is working with people. That’s why I want to have a band and collaborate, because doing it alone is really hard for me. But I’m learning.

My favourite part is still recording in the studio and writing. But I’m starting to love performing, I’m growing into it.

Rochelle: How does your culture influence your music?

Jashim: My culture influences my music in the sense that I developed in Colombia, and I have influences from Colombian Spanish, which is my language and also the vibe. I feel like Latinos are pretty lightheaded.

Even though there’s been so much political turmoil in Colombia, even though things are better now, we still carry joy. I talk about politics, but I also enjoy myself.

That’s something Colombia gave me: living life beautifully, even when things are hard.

Photography: Pablo Gaytan Melendez 

JASHIM embodies the essence of Ctrl+Alt Festival and BARCODE’s mission: artists who use sound, story, and style to challenge old systems while dreaming up new ones. Their music is a political gesture, a cultural inheritance, and a blueprint for future worlds.

By fusing reggaeton with multimedia experimentation, JASHIM pushes boundaries while keeping rooted in identity and community. And that’s exactly the kind of voice our underground needs right now!

JASHIM's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jashimjashimjashim