Of A Young Musician in Africa. My Curie Story

I want this article to serve as an appreciation piece to a community that have contributed in giving me an amazing experience since I joined Steem. The bitter truth is that, be not for the support of Curie, I would have long abandoned this platform, maybe. Quite likely.

Life Before Steemit Curie

Back then in Lagos, I had just completed my diploma course in Music Tech and all I wanted to do was make some money from the skills I got, while developing it. As simple as that may sound, it wasn't easy at all. The jobs were hard to find and without the jobs, I couldn't make money, and without money I couldn't get involved in most of the skill development programmes I would have loved to. I was stuck at home with my guitar and a very bad saxophone.

I finally secured a job as a guitarist in a church and I was paid 20,000 naira monthly (an equivalent of 55.80 USD). It was so meagre, I still could not save up enough to do the things I wanted to do. I could not afford a new tenor saxophone which had been one of my highest priority as a musician. But I had to move with the wave. With the support of my family I enrolled at Peter Kings in a three-month music course. Here is a local music school run by the legend Peter Kings and have had the likes of Lagbaja and Asa grace her student list. I was happy but the challenge I had was that during these three months, I only had to depend on my family for money because I could no more play in the church and thus could not get the monthly peanut.

Now let's fast forward to when I got admission into the university in my hometown to study Music. I was excited at first but after my first three months in the university, my spirit was down, I felt discouraged and I contemplated giving up. I was now totally depending on my family for everything and I could not still get the thing I really needed. At this point my saxophone had gotten so bad that I hated it with flaming passion. My saxophone case had torn totally and I was forced to put it in a polythene bag so I could carry it to school everyday. I later discovered a less shameful alternative which was to put it in my guitar bag instead. Lol. My friends would just laugh and I would laugh with them even though I felt very bad deep down. I could not afford reeds and my neck strap was sort of “customised” because I tied it in such a way that it fitted only my neck and my height. I could not afford a good saxophone neck strap too.

We went on a break in school and I had to travel back to Lagos so I could get to play for the church again and thus save up some money for when school resumes. I got lucky this time and I landed two part time teaching jobs in addition to my playing in the church. My dream of getting a new saxophone was gradually becoming a reality. It was stressful for me sort of, especially on Sundays. I woke up as early as 5pm to prepare for church and by 6pm I was already on the road; by 8am I am in church. It was always a long journey. Usually by 12pm I would be through with church and had to hang around in church till 4pm so I could go to teach one of my students who resided some kilometers away from the church neighborhood. I could not afford the fare of getting back home and coming back to teach. I would round up with the classes around 6:30 or 7pm before heading back home weak and tired. I didn't mind the stress provided it would help me save up money for my saxophone. During this period, my brother Hive account@misterakapan was always busy with his phone and he was always talking about some platform called steemit. I remember a couple of times I asked him for cash and he would say something like “I have to sell some STEEM”. A couple of times he urged me to check it out, pointing that it will help me as a musician. I wasn't interested, I had lost some savings the previous year to a ponzi scheme. I just wanted to work and save up enough money to buy a tenor saxophone.

It was finally time for me to close up on my petty jobs and get back to school because a new semester loomed in the horizon. I now had to sum up all my gains from my petty hustles. Lol. For no obvious reasons, one of my clients refused to pay me after I completed the one month basic piano lectures for her two kids, as we agreed. So summing up everything I had earned, it was 50,000 naira which is an equivalent of 138.50USD and that can't even buy a good fairly used tenor saxophone in my country. I felt so bad about that. I would go back to school again without my dream saxophone. But my family stepped in and helped me out. Thanks to them.

To cut the story short, I finally signed up for steemit and immediately after my account got approved I started posting stuff. My brother Hive account@misterakpan had taken time to explain to me how the platform functions and also some basic information about cryptocurrencies. I started posting stuff about music. My first few posts did not get much attention and upvotes but because of the encouragement from my brother, I just kept writing stuff. Moreover, besides the payout, I was very much educating myself and I enjoyed it. He told me about the openmic contest hosted by Hive account@luzcypher and encouraged me to try it out and I did. I sang a cover of Fela Kuti’s “Sorrow tears and blood”. He loved the rendition and he submitted it to @Curie because he was a curator and it got approved. The payout for that open mic performance gave me nearly the same amount I usually got for playing in church for a whole month. I went to school the next day feeling like a King.

I really had to get serious about Steemit now because of the curie vote I got. Through my brother’s encouragement and mentorship, I got another four curie votes. Now I don’t know who submitted those because I would ask him and he said no a few times. Lol. And I can proudly boast of five big curie votes now plus the many other small curie votes. The most recent being the support for my latest single I decided to distribute first on Steem: “My Africa”. I have been on a posting hiatus since then but I promise to be back soon. Life got in the way.

These changed a whole lot of things about my life. During last year's rise in the price of steem, my steemit estimated account value was at 1,700USD and believe me, that is not easy money in my country, and it felt good to see. I got a new smart phone to enhance my steemit experience, I now have a tenor saxophone that everybody in my department envies. I use a Neotech saxophone harness, a gold plated tenor sax mouthpiece and I have reasonable savings in my account. Not every youth in college can have these things in my country, Sometimes it's almost impossible for them. The tides are stacked against such liberties here.

Steemit rewards creativity but believe me mine might not have been rewarded if not for Hive account@curie. Sometimes I just sit and wonder what my steemit experience would have been like if not for the support and upvotes from Curie.

Thank you Curie, I really really appreciate.