Desarae Dee is an instrumental fusion artist, session musician, composer, producer and educator. She is a classically trained pianist, and self-taught jazz pianist. She also comes from a Gospel music as she grew up playing music at church. Desarae combines her musical background with different genres as she explores the fusion of sounds and textures to create fantastic soulful songs.
Desarae, says her culture (Jamaican heritage) and gender also play a part in the music she creates, as she has a unique perspective being a black woman in the Canadian industry. This is especially noticeable because she does not want to fit her music in a box or one genre. There are not as many female musicians who are behind an instrument, and growing up Desarae did not see as many black women doing what she does when she was young as a child.
Her main music influence came from her parents, as they nurtured her talent, when they discovered she had a gift for music. However, Desarae was not initially interested in music, instead she wanted to play sports and games with her male counterparts. But her father found a black female music teacher at her school to inspire her to take another look into music.
That representation encouraged her to try something that she was very good at and discover herself. Her teacher cared for her as a person, not just a student which made an impact. Desarae learned many musical skills and gained opportunities from her. She studied with her for 12 more years before graduating to post-secondary studies.
As a young adult she studied her Bachelors Degree in Music at York University. Afterwards she was figuring out which career path to pursue, within music or even considered pursuing another field like law as an entertainment lawyer, to represent musicians, producers and bands.
Ultimately, she decided to further her education by going to teacher’s college. She became a teacher and has worked in the Toronto school board for more than 10 years.
Desarae really wants other young women from every background to know that is possible to be a pioneer in the music industry and make music outside of the box, so long as you work hard and have a vision.
Her musical journey was not always so positive though, since she did face some challenges over the years without having a mentor. She had to learn be the trail blazer alone. She also had face the negative side of being an innovator, is that sometimes you are rejected or dismissed. Canadians are not as receptive to musical styles and music presented in a way they have not seen before and Desarae had to accept this and take it in stride.
Although, in most recent years, she is seeing the fruits of her labour, and meeting many women and men from different wants of life, who were inspired by her to learn more about music and pursue the passions that they were always afraid to start.
On this episode, Desarae Dee performed her song, Late Arrival Remix, a re-imagined version of her song Twenty (2016).
Desarae Dee’s music is available on all streaming platforms including iTunes and Spotify at:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/desarae-dee/1006740663
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Jqo0uQOUGNagiBgsY4Dsv
To sign up for piano lessons with her and to learn more about her music visit:
https://beacons.ai/desaraedeemusic
Connect with her on social media:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLodK3nQJQy78qBgcghb_Rg
https://www.tiktok.com/@desaraedeemusic?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/desaraedeemusic/
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