Damian Soul on how music set him free

Music won’t take you anywhere” is one statement that has replayed in the mind mind of the current Afro-soul sensational singer, Damian Soul from a young age. The discouraging words came from his father, Mr Innocent Mihayo.

Brought up by a father who was a judge , Damian was expected to pick up one of the best and respected carriers that would bring respect and benefit to the family. He however followed his passion to become a music star. “Boy music won’t take you anywhere; neither will it give you anything. Study and get yourself a decent profession at least a teacher. Music holds no hope for your future” Damian quotes his late father.

The revelation came to light a few days after he posted a meme on his Instagram account saying “the number 1 reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family and neighbours”. This apparently brings to table his personal experience towards motivating other young stars.

“I believe there’s always an inner voice within every person, that we should rather pay close attention to, than what people around have to say because every human being is created with their purpose and letting everyone one in the bounds of self-vision may ruin the focus,” he says.

Damian declares he had to shut down the voices of disappointment from his family and chose a path which was flamed by that ‘calm voice’ inside him.

His passion for music kept flourishing from primary to secondary school where he wrote a number of songs and performed in different school events. Growing up, Damian witnessed his uncle doing rap which largely influenced him as well.

In 2005, Damian went to college in Uganda, met and teamed with a Kenyan guy who played music instruments and composed songs and the duo formed a group they named ‘Christ Like’.

“It all started getting serious here because we became famous, even our college principal started mingling with us. I then realised I was talented and there was something meant for me to deliver to the world,” Damian says.

Damian says he is a living testimony that no one can chart your life path.

“In 2008 after college I represented Tanzania in Malawi in a Music Cross Road Festival with two other groups and we were received by the then Ambassador of Tanzania to Malawi.

So music took me places my dad never thought possible. It was a big platform for my music growth,” he added.

In 2011 Damian released ‘Hakuna matata’ and went on to represent Tanzania to the famous East Africa music competition Tusker Project Family season 5 and later got evicted.

He released his song ‘Taratibu’ sometime soon as he came out of the competition and the same year, he was invited to perform in the famous annual event ‘Sauti za Busara’ in Zanzibar.

Damian with other five male friends initiated a band called ‘Wakwetu Jazz Vibes’ in which he was the lead singer and composer and the rest of the members were instrumentalists. The band performed in hotels and classic spots.

He released ‘Ni Penzi’ featuring the rap rock Joh Makini in 2013 and the song received a massive ‘welcome’ from across Tanzania and East Africa.

“2015 was a blissful year to me, a lot happened,” he told The Beat.

On January 1, Damian released the song Baraka featuring Joh Makini and on January 28, he went for the East African Maisha Super Star music contest for 9 weeks.

In May ‘Ni Penzi’ got nominated for Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards (KTMA) best RnB song.

He was thereafter called for Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) a platform that paved the way for his participation in Jahazi Jazz Festival Zanzibar in August where Afro-pop Legendary Selif Keite from Mali was also present. Damian winded the year 2015 with ‘Tudumishe’ track featured by Gnako Warawara which is currently the talk of the town.

Damian is in final making to release a track ‘Watoto Wetu’ that speaks of kids’ rights in schools and homes free from every sort of mistreatments. 2 collabos with Ruby and AY independently are still on cooking as he prepares to launch his album this year.

“All that I have and I’m still achieving today is because I listened to that inner voice.Music has set me free from fear because I have hope for tomorrow, has given me peace of mind because my pursuit is my passion, it has made me independent and visionary and lastly it has influenced the lives of different people in different ways” he concluded.