DILLON Mohamed, known by his stage name Raphael Eurus, is a Guyanese music creative who is very passionate about the arts and uses his music as a way of escaping certain tough realities of life.
“I love music because it’s a part of me; it’s in my blood. It’s my escape from the harsh realities of life. Sometimes I experience horrible days and a bit of depression and I just get on my keyboard and start playing and singing and everything just feels better,” Raphael told the Buzz in an interview this week.
The 28-year-old musician feels that he had a calling for music because his mom was a great musician before she died. She played the piano, guitar, harp and a host of other musical instruments.
“She died when I was just seven years old, but my dad would tell me stories of how she used to play the cello most of the time when she was pregnant with me. And I find that growing up and up to this day, I love music with strings. So it’s kind of inherited,” Raphael expressed.
With the main music influence gone from his life, Raphael got new motivation when he started to sing in church, and when he started attending Queen’s College and doing the music subject.
“During that time in school, I not only learned the theory but took some time outside of the class during breaks to learn to play instruments. I took it upon myself to start learning to play the piano and guitar on my own,” he recalled.
At just 17 years old, he became the music director in the church and later the worship director; he remained such for 12 years. Today, Raphael writes, plays and records music with the CFanatik music studio in Sophia. “My genres are pretty diverse. I love cultural, ethnic music, especially being mixed race. I love to do cultural blends of music, soul, R&B, alternative, rock and classical music.”

In his music career so far, Raphael has performed several times at the National Music Festival, and at many art events. While he’s been around music all his life, he’s only been on the scene professionally for a short time.
He released his first music video “One” last February. “The song was written by me and the vocals and music were all done by me,” he said. It is available on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon. He will be starting his second video shoot in July for his new song called “Fly.” This one, he said, is about surviving and overcoming depression and becoming the best version of oneself.

Raphael has had his share of negativity to deal with in the industry, where he was told unkind things about his music career, but he’s never allowed it to keep him down. “It did hurt but I felt even more driven to chase my passion.”
The journey has not been easy also on account of the finances and other resources needed to get things done. But because of his love for creating music, he’s able to continue.
“I am a composer so I love to create musical arrangements and put instruments together the same way I did for the song ‘One’.”
Raphael has his heart set on becoming an international artiste and wants to tour the world and sing in various languages so that he can really be able to reach his audiences. “I don’t want my music to just be entertaining but it must make an impact on persons listening.”
The lack of copyright in Guyana is one of the major challenges faced by Raphael and he would love for a day to come when he can adequately be compensated for his talent.