Lead Guitar / Rythm / Back-up Vocal
Ismael Barthelemy
The idea of becoming a musician has started as long as I can remember. However, as a child, I could never approach my parents about the possibility of taking guitar lessons because that was simply not acceptable or permitted in my home land Haiti. Although I had the privilege to be brought up by my grandparents, uncles and aunties; their love and support toward me were truly uncanny. Haitian Musicians though always had a bad connotation and it was instilled in my head by older generation that if I were ever to follow that path, I would be lost forever in oblivion and never amount to anything substantive in society. As a kid, I was not sure how that dreaded mentality had evolved, but it sure left a scary thought in my cognitive memory that I had to suppress this childhood dream of mine for almost a decade.
One beautiful summer night, I went to visit my mother who was living on the east side of the capital (Port-au-Prince), after conversing with her about some personal issues that I was experiencing, she decided to phone my father who was then residing in Rochester, NY and explained to him that it was time for him to step up and start assisting with my upbringing because his presence in my life as a teenager was imperative. I guess my father was severely touched by my mother’s speech that approximately a year later I came to join him here in the U.S. It was a bitter-sweet experience because on the one hand, I was leaving my mother, my extended family and all my childhood friends behind and on the other I was coming to America (the land of dreamers) to live with the author of my life for the first time ever. Although there were a lot of uncertainties as far as school, a new language, new friends and a completely new culture that I would have to get accustomed to, I was well poised and had a willingness to indulge in this new culture and prosper.
A few months had passed and I soon discovered that my father was extremely educationally conscious. I credited my extended family for the discipline that they had instilled in me as a child, particularly in my birth place Port-au-Prince, L'Artibonite where my father's roots are so profound and Pestel where my mother is from. The upbringing that I received from them has certainly molded me to excel at what ever circumstances that life had to present my way. So, I was truly ready to embrace with enthusiasm whatever demands that my father had to throw at me. His first and last serious talk with me was: “Son….I got you here with me now for a reason. I want you to be studious and do well in high school and then move on to college and obtain a degree.” I knew that he was very concerned at that point about the attention that I was getting from some girls both in and outside of school and he really didn’t want me to follow his foot steps in that aspect. As a young man, he was always at the top of his class, but he never graduated from College. After I was born, he became involve with another woman and had two kids by her. Life, in essence, was very challenging and to skip it all, he went to leave in St-Martin and later had to immigrate to the United States. So, I listened!
While in high school, I met a few friends (Reggie Hendrix, Brian Hendrix and Dezi) that had similar aspirations musically as I did. Suddenly, the childhood dream of mine had made a re-appearance in my consciousness. Those guys had invited me to an evening rehearsal that opened up my eyes as far as what the requirements were to become a musician. Their talents were so obvious and truly authentic that it was nearly impossible for me to accept that they had never taken any music lessons. I finally came to the full realization that with ample practice and perseverance, one can indeed master his craft and anything else that his heart desires.
I can still remember vividly when my friends and I walked to a local Shop-The House of Guitars to help me pick up my first Guitar-Electra and an Amplifier-Quantum that I still possess to this day. This walk was undoubtedly the longest walk that I have taken ever since I left Haiti. It could have been at least close to 10 miles and we didn’t feel tired or anything. Reggie and Brian had an older cousin named Chuck a very talented musician as well. He knew how to sing and play both the guitar and the keyboard. I was introduced to him to be a part of the band. He had welcomed me with opened arms. Now, just about every other day, I would hang out with those guys and pick their brains a little bit from guitar scales to arpeggios. The first scale that Reggie had ever thought me was the the A minor Pentatonic scale. With that scale, I felt like I was untouchable!
Unfortunately, I had to depose that dream of mine about becoming a musician once more primarily because I had received an acceptance letter to go to college and also my father’s speech that used to keep on resonating in my head. It took me five years, but I got it done and I was the first one to graduate from college in my whole family. It was truly one of the biggest accomplishments not only because I was the first, but also I paved the way for a lot of others in my family who went ahead and followed lead.
Music again, came back into my life when some friends of mine that I used to play soccer with decided to start hanging out every Saturday evening at the Goal Keeper’s (Rodrigue Achille) basement playing instruments that they didn’t even have a clue about. It was a Saturday evening, one of the guys (Jean M. Seide) invited me over to introduce me to the rest of the band and ever since I haven’t left my guitar alone. Although we had very limited knowledge, if any, about playing or reading music, we undoubtedly had a lot of determination and persistence and truly believed that one day we would become great musicians and ultimately release our first CD which we are in the process of accomplishing TODAY!!!
