“Do it scared”
Doing what you love; growing up in Caracas; having strangers fill the roles of family; leaving your country on your own; leaving that other country, and that other and that other; keeping doing what you love; saying what you want to say; being who you are; trying new foods; allowing yourself to be vulnerable in front of others; following what you believe. The common denominator between all those: IT'S SCARY! But I today see how all these things brought me where I am and helped me shape the person I am, but most importanly: they allowed me to turn things around and transform the fear into love, being scared to step forward into not daring not to do it, allowing light to rise from darkness and embracing them both.
" A lot of people came here because they were brave enough to follow a path they believed is theirs to draw, leaving a lot of things behind, and that's probably what I love about this place, that I feel there is a bunch of people just like me in that sense, that feel and understand the same things."
Bam Bam: Musician
Bam Rodriguez is a musician, bass player, synthesist, composer and origami artist from Venezuela/Aruba, living today in NYC. He started with music at the prestigious "El Sistema", where he shaped his love for music and for sharing it with others. Then he went off to study in Belgium, in the Netherland and then finally off to live in NYC, where he is an active piece of the musical community, recording, touring, performing, teaching and trying to share the love for music with as many people as possible. Throcughout his career he has performed with the likes of Chucho Valdés, Paquito de Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Deepak Chopra, Claudia Acuña, Ray Santo, toured in about 30 different countriesand played at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Barbican, Davis Hall, Birdland and his own living room.
Bam is part of the community of artists at The National Jazz Museum in Harlem. A Smithsonian Affiliate, this thriving center for jazz stimulates hearts and minds and reaches out to diverse audiences to enjoy this quintessential American music. The Museum was founded in 1997 with a mission to preserve, promote and present jazz by inspiring knowledge, appreciation and the celebration of jazz locally, nationally and internationally.
Do it scared.
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