Today we’d like to introduce you to Fadil Cantave.
Fadil, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started playing music at the age of four years old, covering old Bob Marley songs and playing sing-alongs from my favorite Disney films. I had the constant urge to sing. At an early age, I had been captivated by the stories of the Griot and the ancient priests of Khemet, wise men, and women that contained within their song, the whole narrative of mankind and creation. I sought to be one of them. I sought wisdom.
My parents support in my journey was by placing me in various training environments, from science to music class, my family believed education, consciousness, and the ability to think freely were the essential ingredients of happiness. They exposed me to culturalists, academics, astrophysicists, painters, poets, and many other talented genius beings. My parents’ colleagues and friends were beautiful representations of the human spectrum, each person with their own set of skills. This observation was crucial to me as it indicated early sensitivities around individuality and what it meant for me to be.
My parents’ network was an amalgamation of gender, ethnicities, and thought forms, but in general, it was a group of people who sought to enlighten themselves through the pursuits of knowledge and diversified global experiences. Philosophical inquiry represented the establishment of principles and foundation of my mind as a tool for service. In order to serve, I had to know myself, where I came from and where I was going. My art today is an expansion of this process, an inquiry into the nature of being.
Has it been a smooth road?
There have been some parts of the journey that I consider to be “smooth”. The aid and support from people who have grown to appreciate my work and contribution to art & culture. I am grateful for the legacy of inspiration and being part of a strong family that aided me in radical approaches towards creating.
Of course, there are degrees of the journey that are challenging, like trying to stay motivated and present despite emotional fluctuations and distractions. Pursuing art has transformed my considerations of “obstacles” and “challenges”. The struggle for me is primarily in discovering and uncovering meaning and being inspired to evolve my approach towards life. How does one deal with the loss, with the pressures of societal normativity, how does a person truly be themselves? These are the questions that motivated me to transform my thinking regarding obstacles and challenges of the mind and to consider how to be a creator of solutions and the dynamic flow of my life path.
I remember one time having to sleep in the subway in New York City due to not wanting to miss my bus back to Boston. I had just finished playing a gig that ended at around 4 am. I felt challenged by my desire for rest and comfort and also having to consider discipline. These are the roots of my conflicts, developing a balance between passion and discipline. Developing balance in general.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the HiFadility story. Tell us more about the business.
HiFadility is my artist pseudonym. HiFadility is an adaptation of my name, Fadil, which in Arabic means Gracious, Generous from God. It plays into a principle and perspective I hold where creativity can be seen as an act of generosity from artist to community.
Philosophic exploration is at the root of my “musical” journey. “Music”, transcendentally, I see art as a value, a contribution via frequencies, rhythms, a language of emotional intention that I feel is direct to the space of emotions. I try to focus on not just making something people can listen to, but something people can benefit from experientially.
I have accomplished many things in my career so far. From winning music competitions to having an artist I look up to featured. I want to give a shoutout to Tang Sauce from CT for the major alley-oop and having the Abiodun of the last poet featured on some music we collaborated on. That was a huge deal for me as it gave respects to living practice and appreciation of the legacy of black artistry.
I am not sure that I am looking so much to be set apart from but to see my set part in the community and spaces that I am connected to. Reflecting my values and appreciation through my creativity and ability to articulate via mediums. I am a part of the art story, the human story and am honored to share a role with others in contributing to peaceful, loving, and prosperous existence, for all.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
I think the state of art is constantly morphing and dependent upon the interactions of people and the methods. I think the next 5-10 years for art and culture are varying options, some more probable than others. I do think artists and people, in general, will have to consider ideas of free expression and the responsibility of freedom? Not so much of what I think will happen over the course of time, but more so in the course of evolution and human development.
Our society is experiencing phenomena not so much produced merely of “time” but of incessant forces. Forces of human nature, of astrophysical nature, words — what I am really trying to get across is the consideration of ecosystem and network — the chain occurrences that link us to certain fates. Changes, trends, and shifts will follow patterns reflected in the ecosystem and network experientially evolving in degrees of relativity, expression, and interaction between people and the spaces they share.
Art and culture deal with human expression and interpretation of phenomena. There arguably will always be something to create, recreate, as a means of communicating and reinforcing values.
Contact Info:
- Email: HiFadility@gmail.com
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/iamhifadility
Image Credit:
Kokie Imasogie, Sweety’s Radio, Logo Design by Hayato Nishi, + LFOD Radio
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