Contributed
Pianist, Kamla Hamilton ... music gives you an outlet for the stresses of life.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

While exploring the depths of her music, pianist, Kamla Hamilton, is forging her musical identity. According to Kamla, she's merely "a musician trying a thing", yet word of her excellence is spreading among the musical community.

Now working in the information technology (IT) field, Kamla has been playing the piano for 15 years. She started at age seven with private lessons and reached a highly successful grade three in the Royal School of Music exams. She also played at her local church, which she claims broadened her listening abilities. She then attended the School of Music, Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts, where she learned to play other instruments, including the drums, steelpan and flute.

At the time, music wasn't a professional option, so she went to the University of the West Indies (UWI) and did computer science. However, it is now that Kamla's music really flourishes. "This year I went to the Songwriters' Boot Camp to see if there was hope for me. There I met other young musicians, talented people; from there we started a small network. I met Seretse Small and from there it started as a soloist experience. From March, I've been playing more gigs, more by myself work," she said.

Big break

Her big break came when she played at Christopher's Jazz Café, in The Quad earlier this year. "The response was overwhelming; it was an eye-opener. The reaction to me, I didn't expect it to be so great. It was my first big break. People came to me after and asked where they could get my work" she said.

This opened her eyes to what she can do with music in Jamaica, as while music was a passion, it wasn't something she had originally seen in her future. Yet, everyday life couldn't help, but be an inspiration to the talented pianist.

"My experiences with life, family, my interactions, when you play music you expose a part of you no one else knows about. When you find it and vocalise it, then people understand what your're saying. That's intense. My sound is exploratory, playing a song," Kamla said.

For the future, she wants to fuse her two loves, IT and music, to become possibly a music engineer.

But she will never abandon wanting to be in a band and "being able to tour Europe, Africa. I'm finding out what African jazz is. If I could become a very good composer that would be good. There are so many things to be learnt from being involved with music. It gives you an outlet for the stresses of life," she said.