Webster

Aly Ndiaye, aka Webster, was born and raised in the Limoilou district of Quebec City. With a Senegalese father and a Quebecois mother, he has always been proud of his origins, and describes himself as a pure Métis SénéQueb. His passion for history led him to study history at university.

An activist, Webster is very socially involved. He regularly gives lectures on a wide range of subjects, including his favorite topic, the history of the Afro-descendant presence and slavery in Quebec and Canada since the days of New France. To help disseminate this information, he set up the Qc History X tours, a guided tour of Quebec City on this largely unknown part of history. He also curated the exhibition Fugitifs! at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec from April to September 2019.

Since 2009, he has traveled the world presenting writing workshops where he teaches the creative use of French through rap. He has visited several American universities, including Harvard, M.I.T., Howard, Georgetown and UCLA. He has also given concerts, lectures and writing workshops in several countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Webster has been active on the music scene since 1995; a founding member of the Limoilou Starz collective, he is a veteran and one of the pioneers of the Quebec hip-hop movement. Le Vieux de la Montagne is renowned for the quality of his lyrics and the intelligence of his words. His art is a tool he has been honing for nearly three decades to convey his cultural and intellectual baggage in the most creative ways.

Webster is the author of a hip-hop writing manual, À l’Ombre des Feuilles (Québec Amérique, 2019), a children’s book about Olivier Le Jeune, Canada’s first African slave, Le Grain de Sable (Septentrion, 2019) and the French translator of Charles W. Mills’ landmark book Le contrat racial (Mémoire d’encrier, 2023).

Webster sits on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada commitee since 2023.