QueerFM Featured Guests: Shamir American recording artist & songwriter/Laurent Maurice Lafontant is the president of the Massimadi Foundatio

SHAMIRComing off the 2020 release of his acclaimed self-titled LP that cemented his legacy as a songwriting dynamo; SHAMIR just dropped a 2021 release of a chapbook of essays which focus on his paintings; and he shepherded a 2021 collaboration between his Accidental Popstar Records imprint with the inimitable Macy Rodman out in the world… Now just 26, the polymathic Las Vegas native and current Philadelphia resident is releasing his 8th full-length album, Heterosexuality. His 2015 debut, Ratchet, focused on the prospect of youth; the following several records helped navigate difficulties with mental health. The new record is the first to confront head-on Shamir’s queerness explicitly in album form. Yet, instead of a pure confirmation of a certain gender politics, he chooses a radical refusal of any sort of categorization--at all. It’s a floating point of rebuff, erasing any ideological identification, further confirming Shamir as the everything-for-everyone antihero of the indie underground.“I think this (Heterosexuality) is my best record. At the least, it’s my favorite,” Shamir says. Look for it being released February 11, 2022 on AntiFragile Music and you can check out Shamir’s music at https://shamir.bandcamp.com or on Instagram at shamir326******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Laurent Maurice Lafontant / MASSIMADI FESTIVALLaurent Maurice Lafontant is the president of the Massimadi Foundation, the organization behind Massimadi: an Afro LGBTQ+ Film & Art Festival. Laurent is also a columnist and writer. Laurent is a Canadian of Haitian descent. He graduated in Fine Arts from Concordia University after achieving a double major in Film Studies and French Literature. Laurent has been involved in the LGBT community since 2008. He is a volunteer for Gris-Montréal, an organization that raises awareness about homophobia. He worked at African Rainbow, an organization that served black LGBTQ+ people in Quebec, it was there that he directed two short documentaries Be Yourself (2012) and Beyond Images (2014) about Black LGBTQ+ people in Montreal. Every February since 2009, as part of Black History Month, Massimadi presents films, documentaries and web series on LGBTQ+ themes that highlight members of Black communities. Massimadi is a space where artists and activists address issues affecting Black communities in round tables and public discussions. The festival is also a platform to introduce local artistic talent and share Afro LGBTQ+ culture through the arts.The Massimadi Foundation’s mission is to promote the arts and culture of Black LGBTQ+ communities as a vector for social change in the fight against homophobia and transphobia, and as a means of integration for Afro LGBTQ+ individuals. The festival takes place February 11th until March 11th 2022, visit massimadi.ca for more info!