By Lakhram Bhagirat
Author Helen Keller once said, “The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive and godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” And no one knows struggles as much as Alexander Williams or AW Lyrical as he is popularly known.
The 24-year-old singer was born on the island of Leguan in the Essequibo River. His family was in extreme poverty and a newborn child placed an added strain on their already strenuous life. So, in order for him to be given a life they could not afford, Lyrical’s mother and father decided to give him up.
“At the age of two, I was disowned by both of my parents, because of them being from a poor family. Eventually, my mother and father give me up and never looked back at me as their child. I was raised by my grandparents, which was hard because they were old people,” he said.
He lived with both of his grandparents until he was 15 years old and soon after tragedy would strike. His grandparents died, causing his other family members to take him out of school so that he could work to earn a meal.
“I had to go work in the backdam for them (family members) just to have a meal to eat. I did that for three years and after that three years, I ran away and someone close to me helped me to build my life. I started my first paying job and I got $800 per day. After one year, I went into construction and eventually I started getting up on my own two feet,” he tells me.
Because of the early struggles in his life, music has always been an escape for Lyrical. He would spend hours upon hours listening to music across genres as everything had some sort of meaning to him. He would be working construction and singing for his co-workers so as to make the work flow more smoothly as well as to entertain them,
“My co-workers encouraged me to take it (my singing) to another level of writing my own music. So I gave it a chance and I was put on stage to perform at the age of 20. My first appearance to sing professionally was a success since everyone loved my voice and my style of music,” he said.
Lyrical’s style of music is unique, since he would interchange genres. He sings in Spanish and most of his sets include music from the genres of Soca, Dancehall, Chutney and Reggae. After his initial performance, the requests to perform across the country and further afield began pouring in. He said that he is a hype entertainer since he loves upbeat music and performing exactly that type of music.
“I started getting calls to perform to fly to Brazil, Lethem and travel to Berbice, Essequibo and other places. I love all kinds of music and make sure that the crowd I am performing for is enjoying every moment,” Lyrical said.
However, for Lyrical being a musician in Guyana is a battle because people prefer to listen to music created outside of Guyana, thus stifling the local musicians. He noted that there were also challenges when it came to recording music, but the talent of Guyanese was beyond measures.
“We Guyanese just need that link to click on and get that shot like in other places. We have the talent to showcase and we have been doing good work but the exposure is what we are lacking. Over the next five years I see myself as a recognized and main artiste in Guyana and further afield,” he said.
Lyrical draws his musical inspiration from Terry “Guyana Baboo” Gajraj and Jamaican dancehall artiste Alkaline. He said he owed his success to the fans who have always been there to support his journey over the years as he aims to make himself and late grandparents proud.
Lyrical recently released a new song and shot the video with his inspiration, Terry G on the island of Leguan. He said to look out, because he intends to take Guyana by storm in the coming years. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
