We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ebenezer Eferobor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ebenezer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I value relationships a lot, and I would like to give a shoutout to Kenny Wood and Shie Rozow, two awesome guys who do a lot of amazing work. I met Kenny in the summer of 2022, and Kenny connected me with an opportunity immediately without me asking. He had spoken to a colleague and had given them my information. I was at home, and I got this email from a famous composer, asking if I would be interested in the opportunity. I thought I was dreaming. I owe a lot to Kenny, he gave me my start in this ultra competitive industry. Kenny, if you ever see this interview, thank you!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m glad you asked. I am Nigerian, born and raised. I grew up in a community surrounded by water, on Osime street, in a locality called Iganmu in Orile, in the city of Lagos. My family eventually moved to a neighborhood called Ajegunle, and it was there that I learned a lot about life as a kid. That’s where I was made. I learned a lot about resilience. My brothers and I walked six to seven miles everyday to and from school so we could essentially stretch whatever money we had for food. We were literally masters of our finances at age nine. We pulled our resources together, made a name for ourselves and we basically called our fund “Consumers Discount Market” (CDM). I do not know how that connects or makes any sense but we thought it was funny. We were just determined to be better and more responsible, one decision at a time. I went to a bank and opened my first bank account when I was thirteen years old. I would walk past the bank to and from school every day with occasional stops to make a deposit whenever I had a little bit of change in my pocket. The money I saved paid for my high school textbooks and exams. I would sew my own clothes and use my shoes until the soles had at least two holes the size of adult fists. I knew where to buy the cheapest quarter slice of bread, one akara (aka fried bean cake), and an ungodly amount of crumbs for dinner just to have something to eat or risk going to bed hungry. So, as for who I am today, I would describe myself as a fierce representative of that little kid who was determined not to settle for less, and is ready to take ownership of the ground I walk on.

I got into music and sound work through the church. I started working in the sound booth with a huge Allen and Heath console. While I was doing that, I started learning how to play the keyboard so I could help out in Teens church and that was the moment I knew I would love to do this for a living. I went out to seek opportunities in local studios, and I remember having to pay this guy some money to intern at his studio, crazy now that I think about it. But such was the landscape of the business, you get taken advantage of especially when you are so young and making your way with nobody to guide you. Eventually, I made my way out to the United States to study music and music technology on a full ride scholarship, and ever since then all I’ve done is follow my curiosity.

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has trusted me with their projects, or with a job opportunity over the last six years. I am particularly proud of the work I did on a film called “The Biting Tree” which premiered at the New York Short Film Festival. As a sound designer, that project was such a great experience, and a lot of that is because of the director “Randall Snare”. I am also proud of the musical score I wrote for the feature film “Dragnet Girl” which premiered this November. It is the most I have written for any film, approximately 100 minutes of music.

For anyone out there, I would like them to know that I am a very relational person, and love to meet people where they are regardless of social status. When I meet a person on Monday and I see them again on Wednesday, I never assume that those two persons are the same. I always attempt to listen to the person in front of me. Sometimes this is difficult because I may also be going through something challenging or difficult. But overall, I like to meet people wherever they are because I think it is important that everyone feels seen and heard at all times.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Personally, some of the challenges that I have faced are not only based on skill set. A lot of it is based on access to resources and information. There is this idea that you can learn anything on YouTube, well I do not agree with it. I think you can learn a lot on YouTube, but there is so much knowledge that is behind the walls of institutions and studios. So for someone like me whose father never owned as much as a bicycle, my chances of getting anywhere in music and post production audio are near zero. I would like to see a world where passports and nationalities do not create a hindrance to information or the type of job a person is suited for. I want to see true equality of opportunities both for the kid who grew up playing in a middle school band, and for the kid who grew up on the corner of the street with little or no education, making beats with pots and pans. The difficulty is in having honest conversations without bias or presumptions of a person’s ability and future.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love creating collaborations and opportunities to work with another individual. There is the collaboration that happens when you get hired, and while that partnership can be incredible, there is also the collaboration that happens when I bring someone to work with me on a project. I look for ways to do this in every project that I’ve been a part of till this day. There is just something beautiful and magical when you get extra eyes and hands on a thing. In the past, I was too precious with my work. But the moment I started talking about my work with some of my close friends that I trust, amazing things started to happen. There is the kind of creativity that you bring by yourself, but there is another type of quality and synergy that happens when you find the right collaborators.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iamebenezerkeys