We were lucky to catch up with Samir Zamundu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samir , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
After releasing our second album and performing for a few years, we went on our first national tour. On that tour, we made money from merchandise (CDs, T-shirts) and gained many new fans and experiences.
One of the main lessons we learned was organization; you have to plan accordingly when on the road because there are lots of expenses involved; once we got the hang of how to navigate performance life and break down profits and losses, we quickly became professionals at balancing the money we made from music versus our day jobs. Upon returning from tour, our jobs decided they needed more reliable employees, instead of rolling stones.
That’s when we consciously decided to give it our all, push our full-time energy to our creative endeavors, and make sure we can pay our bills and live comfortably. Since the shift, we’ve released more music, toured more, and, most importantly, developed our curriculums. From storytelling to creative writing, we now regularly visit colleges and schools nationwide, giving lectures, holding workshops, and performing.
We’ve made a living, paid our mortgage, and put our kids through private school.
The key was to apply what we learned from our hands-on experience and not quit when faced with a dilemma.
Samir , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We are The Reminders, a couple/duo based in Colorado. I was born in Belgium and raised in Congo, and Aja is from Queens, NY. We’ve been married for almost 20 years and have been touring and releasing music for about 15. We started out creating (singing, rapping, drumming, guitar) without many resources and performing every chance we had. We then made our way to music conferences and conventions to broaden our network, and that’s how we connected with more promoters and other creatives from different markets.
Our music uplifts people and encourages them to have a good time and be free; it is a blend of Hip Hop, reggae, and world music. It’s complex to put into one genre as Aja raps and sings ballads, while I also rap in French. We’ve been compared to the Fugees, and in 2016, after opening for Ms. Lauryn Hill, she invited us to tour the Midwest with her. That changed things for us because we were finally performing in front of so many fans every night, and it was the perfect audience.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I knew about grants for the arts. In the Midwest, there are a lot of resources to support performing arts presentations. We had no idea these opportunities existed. If we had known, it would have alleviated stress and given us more time to create a cohesive presentation.
This is the switch we made upon acquiring some of these grants: we performed less at clubs and more at performing arts centers, and our live concert started to look more theatrical, with stories and dance. Our songs became more meaningful as we were able to bring them to life and also engage the audience, along with great lighting on the stage.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Our live show is very energetic; we are known to have the ability to perform for any audience. This comes from our global worldview and love for what we do; we approach the stage the same way every performance, whether it is a sold-out crowd at an amphitheater or an assembly in a school theater. We give it our all, people can feel and relate to that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theremindersmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereminders/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReminders/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thereminders
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thereminderstv
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7AGG8NQJMeCQNHK0KHcZyJ?si=oflb3IF6SeC0IX2Y8fxVVQ https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-reminders/292310251
Image Credits
The 3 in the same outfit and B/W photos are from Jason Sinn The close up, headshot is from Garrett Reed