We would like to thank you for your time and for giving us this opportunity to talk to you. We want to know who Rhamzan is, where he is from, what he studied.
It’s an honor and my pleasure to talk to you. Rhamzan is a regular boy from Lagos, Nigeria that loves to sing and make creative works with Sounds and Arts. I studied computer science in Lagos State University.
What inspired to pursue a career in music? Did you always want to be a musician?
Hmmm, I never had any plan to become a musician. I grew up doing technical stuffs, I was more interested in tearing down electric appliances in the house and fixing them when needed. That was my passion, I thought I would one day pursue a career that would be in line with Electric and Electronics. However, after my secondary school days before university, I was bored and idle so that made me discover my love for sound was more than tearing down and fixing radios and disc players. So Because of my newly found love for sound and music, I started hanging out with friends in the neighborhood to sing and write music to present to ourselves. Even though, my voice was horrible it was fun and I trained myself to sing better over the years, Alhamdulilah.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
I would say, how to please myself and how to please my audience. I love being creative, that makes me feel fulfilled but most times the audience just want something else. Most times what they want is not challenging for me and becomes boring easily. If I please myself, it would be selfish and if I please the audience , I would be hurting myself. The challenge is always striking the right balance to grow as an artist.
How do you make your repertoire choices ? What influences you when you are writing the lyrics?
I get influenced by my emotions primarily, how I feel also I write lyrics based on what other people are experiencing.
What do you feel needs to be done to grow the music you are making?
I really do not look outwardly for help to grow the music i am making. I look at what is available to me right now, I look inwardly for what needs to be done by me to grow. Right now i have the internet, that’s a big blessing that I can potentially reach billions of people around the globe. Now the challenge is how to make use of this resources available to me. However, if there is a change or maybe a new technology came about that would be useful to me to propagate and grow the music I am making, I wouldn’t hesitate.
How is your audience’s reaction so far? Do you think you need more support?
My audience has been a blessing and they love what I do. Do I think I need more support? Hmmm, I don’t think I am not getting enough support. I just think I need to reach more people that I am valuable to and Alhamdulilah, we are growing everyday.
We know you love your music but what does Rhamzan do in his own time?
Study people, I am an introvert but when I go out, I love watching people and ask myself why they are doing what they do. I wanna know people’s motivations, like I want to live in their minds maybe for a minute, I know that’s impossible but I find people’s behaviors very fascinating and interesting to watch. I don’t have a social life, it’s either I am working or spending time with family, watching videos or reading stuffs online.
What advice would you give someone looking to follow in your footsteps?
Pray a lot, work, work, work… And be strong mentally. You don’t want to be that one that pities him/herself.
We know that you sing in different languages, will you consider singing in Turkish either?
I cannot wait! That would be another challenge for me, I would love to do that if I have a translator and teacher.
It was nice having this conversation with you , I hope we talk more often.
Thank you for having me.
This article was originally written in Turkish. Copy and paste to read it! Nijeryalı Müzisyen Rhamzan ile Röportaj
Reads, writes and draws.
