Local DJ promotes Seychelles abroad |30 May 2015

Jed Alphonse, better known by his stage name DJ Vamps, is a Seychellois born who grew up in the United Kingdom and who aspires to promote Seychelles throughout the world using music.
Born on December 8, 1984, this young Saggitarian (born under the sun sign Saggitarius) left Seychelles at the age of 8 to Fulham where he has been living for 20 years now. Within this time he has visited Seychelles only once when he was 12 years old for a two-week holiday.

Now on his second visit to his native land, DJ Vamps paid a visit to Seychelles NATION offices recently to share his experiences.
“It’s been a journey, the way I see it,” said the young artist. “Since I’ve been here the last time a lot has changed and musicwise things have also evolved.”
He also noted that Seychelles’ beauty is still very apparent and the music he finds very interesting as well and feels that some people may not see that.
DJ Vamps is the disk jockey (DJ) for Seychellois and  Mauritian groups when they perform in  England.

He also got the chance to share the stage with local artist Jahrimba in live shows on May 8 and 9 at the Katiolo and Oxygen night clubs respectively.
He said he managed to get the experience of a DJ here, and to bring his knowledge of his experience as a DJ in UK to the Seychelles and according to him the audiences’ response have all been positive to his music.

Apart from that he also got to discover the scenery of Praslin and La Digue the day after his shows with the help of DJ Dala, but most of all he enjoyed the seafood.
“The purpose of this visit was to play for Jahrimba in the first place,” he told Seychelles NATION. “Jahrimba asked me to DJ for him in his shows and try to establish a few contacts to try and push local music abroad. However this was easier said than done”.    

“Music here compared to the UK is rather different,” he said. “Here there isn’t any what we call garage music and funky house music but I understand that this type of music is not for an island. This island state has more island vibes like reggae and dancehall music.”

When asked how does he draw inspiration, he replied: “I just want to bring good music to people, to make a change and put Seychelles on the map. I want to give Seychelles a title for music because I can see that we are really good at it.”

The 30-year-old DJ took part in the Fulham Carnival next to Chelsea in 2008; in 2013 he opened a concert for Gyptian (a Jamaican reggae singer) and he also opened a show for Champion and Ambitious last year in the UK.

He is also signed with Coolkat Entertainment in his attempt to promote Seychelles music. “I’m just trying to make a difference to promote Seychelles music along with urban music.”

He commented that career wise his life is going really well. “I’m on stage every two weeks at The Goose Pub,” he said. He is concentrating on urban music, “a bit of everything” as he puts it, from hip hop to R&B but while in Seychelles he got a taste of the real ‘sega’ music and was really impressed.

“The stage name comes from the term revamps,” he explained. “Just like you can revamp a car, every day I revamp music. That’s what I do as a DJ, you make old music become new in your mix.”
Aside from music, Jed also has a Level 3 qualification as a nursery practitioner, working with children from the ages of 1 to 16 at the Staffing Bureau agency, though he would prefer to work with children up to 5 years old as he adores children.

Jed’s other talent is in modelling as well as he has modelled for two agencies in the UK, Mirage Modelling Agency being one of them. He took up modelling to be able to raise money to buy his equipment and they picked him to be a role model.
 
“In the UK there are not enough black youths in the modelling agency so that’s why they picked me because we are usually associated with drinking, crimes, and drugs. I was picked to show that we are actually able to provide a good living for ourselves and also to attract more young black men and women into the modelling business.”

Next in line for this DJ is to build bigger stage and set up a public address (PA) system which allows him to have a bigger venue to accommodate concerts for Seychellois artists in the UK and promote Seychelles for its music as well as beauty.

Although Jed has been away for so long he still manages to speak his native language as he grew up around loving family and friends who would often talk to him in Creole.
He will be leaving Seychelles early June but he has promised that he will definitely be back,  sooner this time.

Ralista Hortere