Meet Pàppa D.

We recently connected with Pàppa D. and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Pàppa , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I believe that being optimistic is a state of mind. I have been through things where darkness was the only color I could see and realized that remaining positive about situations, seeing the good in other people, choosing love over hatred and envy could go a long way. It has worked for me, and now is my number one rule in life! You won’t believe how many problems are being solved when you just put a smile on your face and face everything! Lastly, by being optimistic, you have the power and ability to bring other people up as well, elevate them, create safety, a sense of acceptance, for them, but also for your self!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I have been creating since the day I can remember myself. From building things as I kid, to creating things with strings, clay, legos, painting, to eventually started messing with some black and white keys, never have I not been creatively involved with anything since the beginning. Music was the ultimate vessel of creativity, that really seemed to fulfill my deepest artistic expressions. To be able to sing, play, compose, and perform this music life every night around the world, is the best thing that I could ask for myself. There’s not really many media that I haven’t affiliated myself with, artistically, including dancing, which for the last 7 years has taken me to every corner of this world!

Music just always seemed to stay, come back stronger every time, fresher, more creative, more honest. I suppose that’s what happens when you dive in deeper into something, you find the truth.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back to the beginning of my career, I can almost certainly say that the three most important tools that I developed during those years were my ability to read and write music and the general understanding of it, my love for classical music, and the work ethic that came with it, and my perseverance and insistence on learning how to dance, move my body, and keep being curious about learning new things about the world and myself.

One thing that I wish I learned earlier was the importance of people in one man’s life and the communication with them. I guess I never had to worry about that because it always came to me pretty naturally. I seemed to always enjoy being around other people, and people have been enjoying my company as well. The ultimate realization begun really when I moved to Los Angeles two and a half years ago to pursue my career in music, fully professionally, where I found that people in your life, a community of brothers and sisters who would go the extra mile for me, really changed my overall experience about this huge mega city and elevated my musical career significantly.

The three qualities mentioned above really prepared me for all the hardships I had to face, and would never have. I been able to accomplish the things I did in such a short time, had it not been for my work ethic, perseverance, love for music, and the endless hours I put on my instrument and craft. That alone can show how early decisions can shape your life in ways you could never possibly imagine.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
The idea of collaboration has been a very new concept in my life and my musical world, but a quite essential one. I really believe that it takes a village to achieve something, so having people in your life who care about you and share your vision, can really take you a long way, but I am opening my pathway to new ideas and always remaining curious about other artistic individuals. For the last year in Los Angeles, I have had the pleasure of working with a lot of incredible musicians and songwriters, so I am hoping to do more of that for this coming year.

I think the idea of collaboration can be split into two ways: the musical collaboration and exchange of ideas between myself, and another artist who does similar sort of things with me, where we can co-write, play together, help each other, get booked on the same lineup, the people who basically are in the same path as you where as the one person grows, they help the other person grow as well, and vice versa.

The second way, is regarding the people who you can share your vision and dream with, and can help you make it a reality. This would most importantly be your band, the people who take your songs and bring them to life, but also booking agents, managers, friends, who just love your music, and would do anything to see you succeed and most importantly, your fans, the people who will buy the tickets, stream, the music, follow you to this incredible journey through life with Sound.

In a such densely artistic environment, there is plenty of room for collaboration, sharing of ideas and co-creation, and I am more than eager to make this one of my top priorities for 2024.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Kulak’s woodshed.

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