An interview with a Digital Media Lab student from WHS

Read an interview with one of our Digital Media Lab students from Winooski High School!

“Meet Senior Rachid Muzaliwa. iLab teacher, Lindsey Cox, sat down with Rachid, a talented student and musician who has been making waves with his unique musical journey.

What’s your name and where are you from?

Rachid Muzaliwa. I am from Burundi but was born in the Congo. My stage name is Draken Jasper.

Tell me about your music career.

I started doing music back in Africa when I was 12 and I was singing in my Church group. My friend told me I was good at singing and I should keep it up. I started writing a couple songs for our prayer group and I didn’t have an opportunity to record those because it was too expensive. I got to Vermont in April 2019. With the help of school instructional assistant Mike Webster, we wrote and recorded the song, Twende Shuleni, and we got invited to perform at the State House.

Where do you perform? How often do you perform?

I have performed in a lot of festivals, like one in Brattleboro. I performed at Radio Bean in Burlington. I performed in Portland, Maine with A2VT. In one month, I can perform between 4-5 times, but some months, we don’t have any shows.

What does music mean to you?

For me, music gives me power and helps me in hard times. I can listen to it when I feel depressed and whenever I write music it feels like I am opening up and seeing what knowledge is inside of me.

How has what you’ve learned at @burlingtontechnicalcenter prepared you for the future?

It helps because it prepared me how to manage my own brand, so if I become a CEO of my own record label, I will have the skills to do that. I am learning photography, videography, but also how to make your own master so I can produce my own music.”