Gilbert, a soft-spoken Guitar Genius

After an evening class (duh, thinking about school assignments), our involuntary motor system took us to the Guy-Concordia metro and we were lucky to stumble upon the music emanating from the strings of Gilbert’s guitar. The moment we heard his strumming, the memory part of our brains sprung up and made us realize that the idea for this blog had actually been framed after listening to his music a couple of days earlier at Snowdon metro. We stood near him, wondering how this guy plays at such a frenetic rhythm, whilst being in his own realm, oblivious to the surrounding noise of chatter, laughter, hurried footsteps, and people gawking at him.

Gilbert opened his eyes and saw two guys with awkward smiles wanting to ask him something (yes, it was us) and cheerfully spoke to us at length. What struck us during our interview was the positivity in his thoughts and action.

Gilbert started as a hip-hop artist, who became a dancer and then started playing guitar ten years ago by just watching YouTube videos. A self-taught artist, Gilbert, started learning guitar as he could compose lots and lots of tunes in his mind but was unable to give life to them . Fast forward to now, he has attained such a level of excellence in his art that he can  translate any composition that he can think of into music. When asked what drives him to play in the metro, he says  that if he plans to practice at home, the productive hours spent would be much less as he might get distracted by lots of things. Putting himself under the spotlight at the metro leaves him no other option than playing (rather practicing), to reach the excellence he has dreamt of and transcend his own perceived limits.  “Go out and Practice”, he says with a smile!

He has been successful in his pursuit hitherto and does this full time now. He has been invited to lots of gigs including a few in New York. However,  more than the money people offer, the things which keep him going are the few words people speak to him, the joyful tears of the few who just stand listening to his music, and the connect he has made with these people (He played so perfectly that when I asked one of my friends to listen to him at the metro, my friend said that he was probably faking it and that there must be a guitar recording running in the background). Gilbert has also encountered this before, as he shares with a laugh “You know bro, now I have started taking these comments as compliments”.

Gilbert has shared us his social media profile links with us and a sample video is given below (click on the links to enjoy his work - Insta, FB )

He has one message to all of us. “Follow your passion, but don’t stress yourself while doing it”, he says, adding that though playing guitar is his passion, and he wants to practice/play more, he wouldn’t force himself to do so if it’s  too cold to play!! His favourite metro to jam in are Berri-UQAM, Snowdon and Guy-Concordia and in the summer he plays mostly in St.Catherine street. If you happen to see him playing, try listening for few more seconds and we assure you that it’s more than worth of your time. His final words to us were that the experience of playing in the metro has given him a positive outlook about life and people, contrary to what we hear in the mainstream media and news.

Our conversation with him definitely reinforced our positivity , and we have started appreciating such artists and their music more. They want to bring a moment of joy in our lives through their music and let’s pay them back by exchanging a few words with them, a handshake, a thumbs up or at least a smile. We assure that your outlook would change too, and you will start appreciating the music more, and life, even more.