A Star Among Us
By
Sengbe Ben Yosef
The weeks have passed quickly and we are already into the
second month of the year. The Unique Artist series has been very successful in
the first year and we want to keep up that spirit of excellence with our next artist
for the month February. This month we bring to you the story of a young
singer-songwriter from our nation's capital Washington D.C… Born to the world as
DaMar A. Jackson this artist goes by the stage name DaMar J… In fairness to our
readers I must disclose the fact that I am related to this young man but that
is not the reason I write about him. This young man has a great deal of talent
and it would be a shame not to showcase him simply because he is my relative.
DaMar J. has gifts both as a singer and as a songwriter. His choice of topic
range from part jams to deep emotional soul ballets. He has come a long way
in the time I have watched him grow and I believe he has earned the right to be
in the blog series for Unique Artist.
As you can imagine I had no problem securing an interview
with DaMar because as I say he is family. The only problem was finding the
right time to get together and talk about his music career. Long story short,
we made it happen and you are in for a treat especially if you like R&B music
that is new and exciting. DaMar's music lyrically is a throwback to a time when
artist worked on the words as much as they did the sound. In his work, he has
managed to capture that old school vibe we all love but at the same time, he
gives us something fresh and witty by way of word selection vocal delivery and his choice of musical sound that accompanies his brilliant writing abilities. So we
began this interview by allowing DaMar to tell us some things about himself
and how he came to love music and entertaining so much.
DaMar says first and foremost music and singing are like
magic for him and he just loves being able to touch people through song. He
says that in his music he has always wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and
although he writes the occasional party song or dance cut, his real goal in
music is to speak for those who are unable to speak for themselves. When you
first listen to DaMar's music the fact that really cares about what he is
singing is evident from the first note. DaMar J. says he started singing
as a young child at around age 6 or 7. He says he was inspired to sing by the
movie The Bodyguard starring the late great singer Whitney Huston and the
award-winning film star Kevin Costner. DaMar said Huston's singing made a great
impression on him and he has been singing ever since. As a child, DaMar said
the choir at his grandma's church inspired him to sing as well.
DaMar said that he really didn't get serious about singing
or making music until he was about 16 years of age. He says before that it was
just fun times singing for family and friends. DaMar says he was bitten by the
bug to perform back in high school after he won first place in a high school
talent competition. He says after that he has wanted nothing more than to
perform his music in front of as many people as he could. DaMar has performed
before local crowds on the D.C. music scene for a number of years taking part
in big and small showcases in the DMV area. DaMar also has 4 complete projects
under his belt and currently is working on a 5th project to be named later this
year. His first project was entitled FADE. He says it was a series of songs
written and produced by him and the title track Fade was voted to be on the
coast to coast mixtape back in 2012. After that, he had another work called
"DaMar J's Room" a group of songs he did on some popular tracks by
the artist Drake. Last year DaMar did a mixtape duo with another outstanding
DMV talent, singer Dimi Dashon. The mixtape is called "The LoveChronicles".
We have some other favorites on the project and I list them
here for you to check out as well. The team also enjoyed the track "How 2 Act" the 1st song on the EP. This track has plenty of pop and attitude and
DaMar's delivery is perfection. The song talks about people needing to
understand that there is a time and place for everything and if you want to be
successful you better learn how to act in those times. We also like "Ain'tCha Bestie" and song about knowing who your friends are in life and being
able to understand the difference between real friends and fake ones. The track
has great bounce and a playfulness to it that makes it fun to listen to over
and over again. Another favorite from the EP was "Waiting", a song
about waiting around for things to happen and being fed up with the whole
process of waiting. I guess if the EP had a title cut then Waiting would be
that song. The music is unbelievable and the arrangement is a little on the
spacey side but I love it. As I said the team enjoyed the whole project from
start to finish and we are sure you will love Patience as well.
I asked DaMar what we could expect in the near future from
him and his music and he said this year he is working on a number of new
projects for himself and other artists. He says he will also be getting out and
gigging more this year because he knows how important it is for his fans to be
up close and personal with him. DaMar says going forward he is going to be pushing
harder than ever to make his name a household name, not just for him but for
all the people who have invested their time money and hopes in his dream. He
says he feels he owes it to his supporters to make good on the dream. DaMar
says it's time to stop dreaming about it and time to bring the vision forth to
its full manifestation. I have been watching this young man for a long time and
I believe now he gets it and we will be hearing much more from this delightful
artist in the future but for now please go out and support his works and spread
the word that a star is among us. This has been another Unique Artist moment
from your friends at Days of Joy Entertainment and we want to encourage you to
follow the links below to find out more about the music and career of DaMar
J… Until next month enjoy the music and share it with friends and family
because music is the other soul food.
Sengbe Ben Yosef ©2017
