Many times In the past when I have been asked how I started doing music or when I started playing the guitar, I have never really been able to tell been able to tell the story right.
The truth is that there's a lot to the story than can be told in an instant, however, although I was initially Inspired by the desire for blog content(if I'm being honest), I would like to seize the opportunity to put down my story here for keeps.
My music Genesis
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Many musicians when asked when they started doing music tend to say things like- "I have been singing since I was a baby" or "I've love music since I could remember". For me, It all started on one particular day back when I was about 10 years old and still living with my uncle who raised me. He raised me as one of his children and we went to the same school back then.
One day not long after we were back from school my uncle arrived home very angry over a long overdue debt someone owed him. Not long after he had sat down and we had greeted and welcomed him, he asked us to go get something from the car that he had siezed from his debtor for failure to pay up.
An Unexpected and unintended Blessing
Looking through the rear window of his black, v-butt Mercedes, I was the first to see the keyboard. I always the more curious one of the three of us, that often got me in trouble.
We took it to the living room where it was unwrapped and I fell in love instantly. We took turns playing it throughout the day and almost through the night if they had allowed us. It was a Yamaha keyboard with lessons, symphonies, a cool DJ mode, a dictionary and quite a number of other functions.
I hardly noticed when everyone else just wasn't that into the keyboard anymore at some point along the line, I was only happy that I no longer had competition, they even called it Zidi's Keyboard after a while(hahaha).
Although it was far from my uncle's intentions, I began to see myself playing music for a long time. I learned to play symphonies like 'my bonnie', 'Fur Elise', oh susana, canon, minuet ba and more. You see, I wasn't that great at school, just above average with very little interest. I was always so upset by the reality of not growing up with my parents and thoughts of what could have been, but I had finally found something that could take me away from all my thoughts and worries and could equally make me feel proud of myself.
Growing up in a family that's not yours isn't very easy in my experience, and music helped me cope with a lot of things that would have left me sad and sour. My time with the keyboard spanned across 6 years after which I got into my first Uni where I wasn't allowed to carry my keyboard(This was back in 2012).
Birth of new passions
Since I'm trying to document my music story, i can not ignore this aspect even if it does not exactly involve keyboards and guitars.
When I got into Uni, I found myself exploring a new aspect of music in the form of 'Dance'. I joined a dance crew called Barbengeez(meaning fearless) that was recruiting at the time and was later honored with the mantle of leader.
This helped me feel music in an entirely different way and also helped me developed passion for wider range of music genres as we practiced a lot of routines which featured dub-step, break dance, Bboying, afro dance, salsa, contemporary and robotics.
Introduction to guitar playing
In 2015 I was no longer dancing on stage, only to myself at home, just like every normal person I guess. I made a new friend who had a guitar hung on his wall even though he had no idea how to play it. I picked interest in it and started using my keyboard knowledge to play on the low E string alone. I would sit at a rarely used stair case in the apartment where I lived back then playing on that single string and singing songs like leave your lover by Sam Smith, one by Ed Sheeran, and a few more I could manage to play. I did it out of passion and often lost track of time.
It wasn't long before people started to notice and picked an interest in my regular play sessions, they would bring t heir seats and sit in front of me at the stair case while I nervously played on. I couldn't see what they were so intrigued, my music wasn't that great.
Soon enough I met a girl who changed my life forever.
She became my girlfriend at the time and she was the one who got me my first guitar for my birthday that year. A surprise has never been so pleasant. Haven grown up with a family of Jehovah's witnesses I was not in the habit of celebrating my birthdays but this was an exception that didn't need much thought.
I went on to meet a guy who showed me my first two chords- The Emaj and Amin. From there I proceeded to learn all else i have leaned to this point from Youtube videos and subsequently from experience and playing with friends. I played more and more, at small gigs, on my instagram, bigger gigs, occasions and on steemit.com .
Road to 'The Music'
In 2019 I put out my first single
"The music" after my first month in a personal mobile studio owned by a friend. I didn't do any promotion on the song though because I wasn't quite ready for a career in music, however, I did gain a lot from the experience. I learned the basics of recording and mixing on Logic proX. Other than the music, I made songs enough to have put out an album but I never released them. Tracks like Jennifer, Devil's eyes, Ko ma roll, Burger-Burger and a lot more I wish I could share with you.
The
Looking back at my music story so far, there's nothing I would change since it has all led me this far with still a lot of promise.
Without music, I wouldn't even be on Hive because heard about the steemit openmic from my childhood friend @ebingo and that's what brought me to the blockchain and music continues to be my anchor to it.
I guess you can say that this is both my Music and Hive Origin story. It's been a pleasure storing these words right here where they can never be wiped off.
I'm happy for the legacy I'm building and will one day pass to my children who I would love to give more support to improve their specific talents than I ever got. Of course any one who turns out to be a musician is an automatic favorite(Daddy's only Joking kids!!).
I hope to resume my music career fulltime when I'm done with my Structural Engineering program which is set to conclude next year. I will have to chose between recording or tutoring, either ways I would like to do a degree program in music production. For now, I can enjoy the music communities on the blockchain where I get tips and encouragement from true professionals and music lovers alike.
Thank you for reading!!!
IG @zidi_ebi
Telegram @almostsober