Pull Quote: ‘Just be you; nobody can do you better than you…’

WE have musicians; then we have musicians who are exceptional at what they do. This week’s personality is an electrical engineering student who is fervent about music.
24-year-old Trevaun Selman is a singer, songwriter, and a self-taught musician who plays his guitar upside-down.

In an interview with ‘The Buzz’, the talented youngster said he aspires to stand out, and in order to do so, he would need to ‘come different’. He said many Guyanese musicians would try to emulate other musicians’ styles, but he believes that one should be themselves and set out to be different.

And that is why he plays his guitar the way he does. He plays like a left-hander would, but the guitar is stringed for a right-hander. He took piano lessons when he was just about 11 years old, and taught himself how to play the guitar using some books he had.
Selman said he wrote his first song, “Home”, when he was on the Spotlight Talent Show that was hosted by E-Networks in late 2016. He recalls penning it the night before he performed it on the show and eventually won third place.

Though his career leads along the engineering path, his passion lies in creating good music that captures the attention and interests of listeners, “…and just to leave behind a legacy of some sort, so that looking back years from now, I can say that I had a part to play in something great,” Selman said.

“I love music; it’s part of who I am. I want this to be a full-time career, but Guyana is obviously not the place for that. But I am making the best of whatever is available to me at present,” he added.

Thing is, he grew up with musicians, Selman said. His mom would sing in church, and his siblings played the piano and steelpan as a hobby. His inspiration, he said, comes from the reaction he gets from people who listen to his music. But his main inspiration is his parents.

He would like to urge others to be true to themselves, as it is the only way to genuinely achieve success.

“Just be you; nobody can do you better than you… Don’t follow the trends; just be yourself,” the young musician advised.