Hector Lewis – The Roots Percussionist
The Jamaican Blogs™ always loves to shine a spotlight on Jamaicans who are doing big things in their respective fields.
Jamaica is filled with abundant musical talent and 25 year old musician Hector Lewis, currently a drummer for arguably the world’s biggest reggae band is certainly one of the brightest sparks emerging from the island.
Lewis is a music educator, a drummer and currently the percussionist and a background vocalist for Chronixx and the Zincfence Redemption.
Having seen him perform, we were truly mesmerized by his musical versatility and managed to catch up with him to ask him a few questions.
Briefly introduce yourself and share with us how and why you chose drums/percussion to be your choice of instrument; Were u schooled in it, self-taught, or both?
My name is Hector Donald Lewis Jr. I’m 25 years old. I was born the 4th of July 1990. I’m from Kingston, Jamaica but I originally grew up in St Catherine. I fell in love with congas before the drum set came into play, and the first time I played both instruments was in church.
After a while I started to teach myself along with learning from the drummer who would play at church mostly. During high school my love for this instrument developed when I met a man by the name of Jordache Jones and this is where I joined a drumming ensemble and went all over Kingston to represent my school and sometimes we went to the countryside as well.
My teenage years as musician were more fun than work until one of my big sister’s asked “what are you going to do when you leave high school?” I replied “become a lawyer and she realized that I never really wanted to do that but I really wanted music and that’s when my life started to make sense.
I went to The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, studying music. I went there in 2007 and that’s when I realized what I truly wanted to do. I had three lecturers that influenced me and they are Mr. Derrick Stewart, Mr Maurice Gordon, and Mr Devon Richardson. In my second year of college I met a man called ” Denver Smith” more popularly known as” Feluke” and he introduced me to the Percussion world which at the time I thought only drummers played drums in a band but Feluke showed me otherwise and it took me a few years to get it but I did by practicing day in day out, listening and learning from my mistakes.
Is there a spiritual/cultural link to what you do?
My spiritual connection comes from the Most I Jah and the teachings of prophetic leaders from my race. And then I try to use the music I play as teachings to myself so whatever is natural and organic.
We first noticed you at NYC’s Irving plaza show with Chronixx as part of the Zincfence Redemption band. You sang for merely seconds during his intro and almost stole the show! That was very magical! Please give a brief history on how you started with them.
I started in 2013 of May. I had a gig with the artiste called ” Kelissa” and Chronixx did a collab with her which he was asked to sing and we did the gig together.
After I was done I went over to Chronixx to tell him how great it was to work with him and then he looked at me and said “mi ready fi yuh come play some music pan di road wid Zincfence enuh” and I agreed.
Was this your first time touring worldwide and did you expect the reception you received ? Also can you share your most memorable performance or city, place or country from the tour?
This wasn’t my first tour like that and I don’t really have a favourite city because everywhere we went had something different to offer. I love Europe, all parts really, from the UK to Germany, France etc, and Australia as well. The Caribbean areas are fun too and i’ve been to New Zealand as well. Everywhere brings a different energy.
Our show in Kingston was an awesome experience for me and personally being the patriotic person that I am, performing for my country, my people gives me an irie feeling.
You are very unique and extremely talented at your craft. What are some of your future plans and objectives regarding solo work; recordings, albums, etc?
I intend to do a solo project and the genre is Reggae with a ‘lil’ world music influence. I have a show in Jamaica in February though no date has been assigned as yet.
I want my music to go places and for persons to hear it and when they do and they see the face then they will know that they’re hearing me, my soul, my purpose in life.
Check out a few short snippets of Hector below and follow him on Instagram by clicking HERE
Download The Jamaican Blogs™ App for your Android device: HERE
Remember to share this article on Facebook and other Social Media Platforms. To submit your own articles or to advertise with us please send us an EMAIL at: [email protected].