Introduce Yourself: The Snow Owl has landed on Steemit!

I was born in the heart of the Colombian Andean mountaintops. It is said by our elders that each of us is brought into the Earth realm with the help of a spirit animal. In my case, that spirit guide is a majestic white owl. I was blessed with the tribal name Snow Owl right after my arrival (and believe me I am extremely lucky that my name didn't end up being worm or roach!). 

During this period of Colombian history (1980's), our lands were at war with both Guerillas and the many factions of drug cartels. This conflict has lasted over 60 years. There is finally hope that it will be resolved if all goes well in the current political arena. My people and Colombian brothers have suffered greatly during this conflict. There are way too many examples to even mention. As you can imagine such conflicts led Colombia to be the second country on the world statistics of displaced persons.

At the height of the drug cartel war, my uncle (Rafael Garcia-Herreros) managed to negotiate the terms for the surrender of drug lord Pablo Escobar. Yes, you have not read those last words incorrectly. Such a brave act of course welcomes repercussions and our family was forced to leave our homeland in order to survive the backlash from the cartels. From one day to the next I was living on the streets of New York City, which ironically enough was one of the main delivery stations for the drug cartel's "street" products.

After applying for Refugee and asylum status, the United States denied us residence. Having no place to go and a lack of funds, we were forced to remain under the radar of the immigration authorities. We could never stay in the same place for a long time. It was a very painful way to grow up. Your roots taken from you as a child and then no consistent place to call home.  

               

Since I can remember music has always been my life’s biggest dream. It was very easy to fall in love with the magic of rhythm hearing it every day in the spirit of the Colombian people. While attending middle school in Bayside Queens I was fortunate enough to begin my musical studies. An after-school music program offered inexpensive beginners lessons and the last instrument available was the flute. Obviously that was not my first choice since I always wanted to begin on piano. A few years later we were forced yet again to migrate to Tampa Florida because of the heightened pressure from New York immigration authorities.  I was determined to become a professional musician. There was no financial conditions available for me to afford private instruction. I was able to convince the musical director from one of the local High Schools to allow me to practice in the band room with an instrument. Once again the only instrument available was an Electric Bass. Due to school policy the instrument had to remain in school grounds unless you payed a monthly rental fee. The band director saw how much passion I had for learning and like an angel she gave me the key to the side entrance window so that I could sneak in at any hour of the day to practice. I can remember extensive amounts of hours were spent every night in the school band room as I practiced until my fingers were literally bleeding.

                         

One day a scholarship competition was announced for Berklee College of Music. The competition would take place in New Orleans, Louisiana. I was obsessed in winning this competition. For nine months I prepared passionately my audition. Raising the funds to cover the flight expenses also involved me working ridiculous hours for minimum wage to pay for the trip. I will never forget the day of the audition. The majority of students were accompanied by their families or instructors. I remember noticing how well dressed all the other candidates were in comparison to my modest attire. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. Three months later I received a phone call with the confirmation that I had won the scholarship for the Bass Department. When I shared the news with my guidance counselor she attempted to convince me to stay in Florida and pursue other academics. Her exact words were “You can’t live a financially stable life as a musician and your choice of instrument is not one that you can even perform with a major orchestra.” Despite her negative views I accepted the invitation to go to Boston.  

I attended Berklee College of Music in 1995 for one year. My teachers recommended to me that I should go to a major city such as New York or Los Angeles and begin my music career as soon as possible. My teachers had acknowledged that my passion for learning and discipline for practice was solid enough for me to move on into the professional world. And just like that I drove down to New York City.  

                    

The first few years in New York were extremely difficult because of the huge amount of competition that you find lurking around the music venues. There was even a period where I was sleeping on the streets with just one bag of clothes for performing and one bag of clothes for the daily life. There was even occasions where I picked up the coins which people dropped in the subway stations so that I could have something to eat. Do I regret this? Hell No! Those are some of the most real moments any human being could ever experience.  

Whether you can call it luck or destiny, soon enough the right people saw both my work ethic and dedication which lead to them inviting me to perform with established musicians. One thing lead to another and before you knew it I had begun to perform with world famous pop stars and instrumentalists. If you’re interested in seeing some of the collaboration which I have done attached in this article is my Wikipedia Link listing some my performance highlights. 

                            

Then September 11th happened…  

Of all the things which my ears have heard in my existence, the sound of those towers crumbling down still to this day bring chills up my spine. In that moment as I witnessed the people jumping to their deaths one of the clearest voices I have ever heard inside of my head said to me “How many dreams died today!”. I asked myself in that moment “What are my dreams?”. You see, I was still legally trapped and without a passport in the United States, but my biggest dream was to study composition in Europe’s Mekka of Classical Music: Vienna, Austria. 

                         

I hired a lawyer and began the extensive process of applying for papers. Thanks to never having a criminal record, extreme amounts of support and recommendation letters my citizenship was approved by both the American and Colombian Governments. On the day that my passport arrived I went straight to the airport and I flew to Austria. The rest is history…. And as for the guidance counselor’s comment that the Electric Bass is not an orchestral instrument, well you could have imagined her face when I emailed her my performances with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra on national Television ;-) 

                                               

I am the Snow Owl, Juan Garcia-Herreros and I am honoured to be a part of the steem revolution!

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