Today we’d like to introduce you to Sohn Jamal.
Sohn, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My name is John Small, and I record music as Sohn Jamal. I’ve been a musician since I was ten years old. I grew up in Japan playing guitar in bars around central Tokyo, but when I was 15, I started taking an interest in electronic music, making mostly boom-bap/ambient music. I started seriously making beats when I was 18 and relocated to Miami for my Jazz Studies program at the Frost School of Music. Since relocating to Florida, I’ve been active in a number of different bands and projects in the underground electronic scene (my other band, Butterfly Snapple just played at III Points this year) with no signs of slowing down. I compose music through sampling but in un-traditional ways. I hold sessions in my living room with different Miami artists and use that as a sample source. I’m heavily influenced by Brainfeeder’s Teebs’ method of pushing acoustic instruments and vocals through machines to create abstract and angular yet accessible beats. Primarily I use Ableton Live, but I have a wide variety of analog and digital samplers as well.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I try to reflect the life I’ve lived through my music. I’ve been blessed to have lived a very international lifestyle, and I try to show that through music. The only constant in my music is change. I try to make music constantly, whenever I’m on the road I like to make music whether it’s in a b&b in Nepal or in my childhood bedroom back in Japan.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Learning how to stand out. The market is so oversaturated, and there are so many genres that I believe that the only way to stand out amongst other artists is to be original and be yourself. There are thousands of producers trying to be the next Knxwledge or Flume, but you really have to showcase yourself in a way that’s unlike anything that’s been done before. And that’s the hard part.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can support me by buying my record I released in 2018 through a local Miami label called Night Young, as well as my SoundCloud and Bandcamp pages (both are Sohn Jamal). Follows on Instagram and Facebook always are a helping hand as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soundcloud.com/sohnjamal
- Email: johnsmallmusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s0hn_jamal/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sohnjamal/
- Other: https://sohnjamal.bandcamp.com/
Image Credit:
Alan Meneses
Kich Ineus
Edgar Garcia
Koa Ho
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