God redirected my life – musician
Published:Sunday | July 18, 2021 | 1:16 AMTamara Bailey - Sunday Gleaner writer
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10
During his primary and secondary school years, his ambition was to become a cricketer.
But when his mother could not afford his move from St Ann, to take up an opportunity he received to play for the Manchester-based Holmwood Technical High School’s cricket team, Dale Haslam resorted to learning a skill as a mechanic at a garage in Brown’s Town and Runaway Bay, St Ann.
But, as he worked through each day, Haslam had no idea that the plans God had for his life were completely different from what he was doing.
As an ardent churchman, Haslam began leaning into an aspect of worship that always fascinated him, and it was there that his new journey began.
“My musical journey began at the Upper Room Church of God in Devon where a group of missionaries gave them some musical instruments. With no knowledge of how to play these instruments, I quickly developed my methodology of playing these instruments. This then led me to using these methods to teach a community of musicians. While getting better, I started to play at other churches for their conventions, rallies, and even concerts.”
GROWTH
As he was honing his craft, Haslam wanted to be better, and this led him to start playing at hotels on the north coast where he met other musicians who further helped to develop his playing ability.
“Soon after, I started playing for the gospel group, the Ambassadors from May Pen, then Carlene Davis, Junior Tucker, and many more. I also started my label -Hazziemuzik Production where I produced many local gospel artistes such as Dian Barnett, Flavia Beswick, Kimola Brown, Bobby Edwards, and many more … .”
His career in music catapulted and, soon enough, he was touring the world with cultural acts he looked up to all his life.
“My musical upliftment came from the legendary guitarist Sir Ernest Ranglin who I had the opportunity to tour with all over the world as his bass player. Maurice Gordon’s teachings are still to date one of the best concepts that I have achieved over the past years, which have given me a solid foundation as a bass player. Additionally, I must say thanks to Desmond Jones who took me in his band and gave me a true life-touring experience where I had the chance to tour with some big-name artistes such as Jimmy Cliff, Mutabaruka , Barrington levy, Marcia Griffiths, Cocoa Tea, and many more,” Haslam told Family and Religion.
Playing for all the major cultural acts on all the biggest local shows and touring the United States, UK, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, Haslam knew, if God gave him a talent, he had to put himself in a position to impact others by helping them find their purpose.
SELF-REFLECTION
“In 2014, I took a self-evaluation of where my life was going and found that, even though my accomplishments were great, I still felt like something was missing. One of my major goals in life is to give back to society. There and then, I decided that I had to go back to school.
After doing evening classes and securing passes in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations, Haslam enrolled in the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Faced with numerous struggles, including the negative comments, financial requirements and every stumbling block to deter him from his way, Haslam pressed on with the few people he had in his corner.
And it was worth it after all.
“At the end of it all, I was selected to be the 2020 valedictorian. At the graduation, I received six awards, which include the Chairman’s Award, the Dean’s Award, The Principal’s Award, the Pamela O’Gorman’s Award, and two honours awards. The greatest lesson that I have learned to date is that everyone in life has a purpose and, no matter what negative comments that I had to encounter, I can truly say that hard work brings positive outcomes.”
He added: “With the help of God who is my creator, I can say that He has directed my path from birth till now and, even though I have not served him in the way I ought to, I have to say that he has truly blessed me with this talent and gift to now go out in the world and bless other children to become better men and women of tomorrow. Now that he has blessed me to be teaching at the Steer Town Academy, my hope is that he will continue to be my guide throughout the rest of my life, so that I can bless the nation’s children.”