Christopher Downs/Contributing Writer
Local artist Jeffrey Warner, one of the many performers who took the stage at Bayfest, was proud to share his art with his fellow Panthers.
A senior studying communication arts with an arts and performance focus, Warner feels that music has been a huge part of his life and has become a voice for his people.
“I pretty much grew up around music and the arts. My father is a musician and my mother is into fashion, so I pretty much grew up around the arts. It was always a fundamental part of me, in a nutshell,” said Warner
Warner said that he began experimenting with music in the sixth grade through freestyled beats/percussion, which eventually led to a more serious passion. It wasn’t until recently however, that Warner chose to pursue music professionally.
“It started with me taking an audio production class, and really harnessing the skill of recording myself and I just built up a consistent regimen of recording myself over different instrumentals and rhythms… I started to develop a sound and found my style,” said Warner
Every artist has their own purpose for creating music, and Warner emphasized that it isn’t something he does for personal gain but something he uses to unify people together.
“There’s something about music that’s universal. A song, regardless of the language, you can feel it and it makes you feel good. So, I like the fact that music can bridge gaps culturally, it can bridge language barriers, as well as racial barriers. Because good [music] is good music. When you have good music, you feel good. That’s what I like the most about music,” said Warner.
Warner feels that he does not want to just perform on stage and make nice music, he wants his listeners to take away something from each of his shows.
“My music is for the people. I feel like I’m obligated to be an organic representation for my people and my culture. I’m a Rastafarian, and our music is built on the principle of love; us giving love to the people and giving them an unapologetic and uncut reality of how we feel about different things,” said Warner.
Before his Bayfest performance, Warner said that he was nervous to perform because it was his biggest show yet, but that he was focused on having a good performance.
“We’re just making sure that we [are] capitalizing on the little things and we feel harmonious. Preparations is something that we have to capitalize on. Piss-poor preparations means [a] piss-poor performance. It’s just a thing of communication and helping each other out,” Warner said.
As for what’s next, Warner says he has a tour in the works to promote his EP.
“We just started our ‘Revolution’ pre-release tour, we’ve had 5 shows so far and after the Bayfest Festival our last show is going to be the West Palm Beach carnival on the 29. Our ‘Revolution – EP’ is coming out May 30,” said Warner.
Image retrieved from Flickr.
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