He was singing a song that rang out to me. “Little black sheep don’t cry, keep your faith, and hold your head high…” I was just fifteen years old. Up to that point my life had been a living hell. I approached the man sitting at the river’s edge and asked him if I could have a go on his guitar. Robert liked my voice and we began talking. That afternoon the two of us busked in the old town of Solothurn. I did not own an instrument of any kind at the time, so we took turns playing Robert’s guitar. We made what to my eyes seemed like a small fortune. It wasn’t quite enough to buy a second guitar but sufficient to buy a pair of bongos. And so I became Robert’s percussionist. By evening it was clear to me that I had found my destiny. After all what did I have to lose?  I surely wouldn’t miss the sadistic cult and my violent, alcoholic step-father. To spontaneously go travelling with a man I didn’t know, who was twenty four years my senior made perfect sense at the time. Besides, I liked Robert. He showed me respect and gave me dignity. We are close friends to this day.

After months of travelling with Robert, I finally saved up enough money to buy my own guitar, and started to earn a living with music. Robert left back to Antwerp and I decided to have a go at making my own life experiences. Most other street musicians didn’t take me seriously. When I would hang out after busking, people would ask me why I wasn’t in school. I didn’t really know what to tell them either. My past was complicated, unpleasant and so I kept my answers short and vague.

Over the years I realised I wanted so much more than meaningless beating out the same old songs over and over. One man with his guitar travelling Europe just didn’t cut it for me anymore. As a kid my biggest wish was to become a classical composer. Nonetheless, growing up in the children of God, education was hard to come by and I never learned to read or write music. I started branching out into many forms of art. Song writing and composing music, Poetry, sketching, writing, as well as film and photography. For me art is life. It is the air I breathe, the water I drink, the nourishment of mind, body and soul.