ACCES 2023 interview: Tanzanian musician Damian Soul

3 nov 2023 - 15:36

Growing up in Sinza, Dar es Salaam, in the mid-1990s, it was hard not to fall in love with music. The administrative ward in Ubungo District is the melting pot of Tanzanian cultures, largely manifested through music – at weddings, churches, social halls, bars and in the streets.

Damian Soul performing at the 2023 edition of Sauti za Busara festival in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Photo: Rashde Fidigo

Here, Lingala collided with taraab and reggae embraced mchiriku. But for a young Damian Soul, hip hop was the name of the game and all he wanted was to become a rapper. His biggest hero at the time was Saigon, a member of pioneer Tanzanian hip hop group De-Plow-Matz.

“Saigon and I lived in the same street,” Damian Soul tells Music In Africa. “I was already in love with Biggie and Tupac, but here was a local boy who was also killing it. It was hard not to want to be like Saigon.” Of course his father – a judge and Dar sophisticate whose musical palate could only stand classic pop, funk and jazz – would have none of it.

But it was too late. Sinza’s influence was inescapable and Damian had caught the music bug, which consumed him while in high school in Uganda. There, he began plucking the guitar while his classmates chased a football around the campus grounds.

“I was lucky to have a teacher who supported my interest,” he recalls. “Soon, together with a Kenyan schoolmate, we formed a band whose performances were the highlight of Friday ‘flag ceremonies’.”

After high school, he decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business but the music itch proved too much and he soon dropped out to fully embrace what was undeniably his calling.

Stints as a session musician here and there followed until Maisha Superstar made its rounds in 2015. The East African talent search competition, held in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, would propel the fledgling artist to levels he had long aspired to. Having abandoned his rapping ambitions, Damian Soul, mentored by Tanzanian superstar AY, wowed the region with his singing, serving up dazzling new takes on classics, one after the other. When the show ended, Damian Soul, who finished as a finalist, had announced himself to the world.

Nearly nine years down the line, he is still at it. Having reinvented himself into a griot of sorts, these days his music is a cross between the traditional and modern. Dressed mostly in an overflowing Afro-inspired garb, Damian Soul delivers smooth, all-consuming music – both a cry and an invitation to live – an amalgam he calls ‘Afro-soul fusion’.

“You can describe it as the fusion of my childhood. African sounds come naturally to me and then there is my father’s jazz and my mother’s church ballads. It was through worship music, from the likes of Jonathan Butler and Fred Hammond, that I truly learnt about chord progressions.”

Indeed, he is a musician who knows what he wants, and that includes winning a Grammy. “I am not kidding, bro,” he tells me over the phone. It is this self-assuredness and the unwavering ability to stay true to his course that will see him perform at this year’s ACCES music conference in Dar es Salaam.

As one of the showcasing artists at the music trade event, he is delighted by the opportunity to share his music with delegates from around the world.

“There are not enough live platforms that allow artists to perform in a professional setting locally. ACCES is one of them and I am honoured to join other amazing artists on stage on 10 November,” he says.

Apart from his performance at ACCES, Damian Soul will also join a panel discussion about artist management and entrepreneurship in the music business at Mlimani City Conference Centre on 11 November.

He is excited that platforms like ACCES exist to elevate the African music sector. Having been in the trenches himself, he understands the unique challenges bedevilling the African music industry, and as someone who knows its true potential, he is thrilled to join the conversation towards a more professionalised African music industry.”

“Conventions like ACCES will help us strike at the heart of these problems. It will take time, but at least someone is thinking about the solutions. Laws have to change, proper structures need to be put in place, we need to professionalise the game – all this starts with sharing ideas and exchanging information.”

And Damian Soul has his own plans to develop African music. “I want to start an academy that will nurture the next-generation musician. This is an industry that can transform communities but we need to change mindsets early enough so people can see this,” he says.

Register here to watch Damian Soul’s ACCES 2023 performance at Warehouse in Dar es Salaam on 10 November. African delegates register for free.