Local musicians Dess Jour and Nana Blue honoured their cultures, families and each other through music at the World Music Festival, part of Durham College’s Oshawa Music Week.
“Music represents my life,” said Dess Jour, a second-year student in the Music Business program.
Both Jour and Nana Blue met in the Music Business program, which organizes and runs Oshawa Music Week every year.
They say they “instantly clicked” when they met in the first year.
Jour is an Italian singer and songwriter who played all original music at the event on April 7.
To start her set, she sang a song called “Vittime d’amore.” As Jour told the crowd, the song was about living through different stages of life. She also explained that she originally wrote it when she was 16-years-old.
She then played her next song, “Mon amoré/My love.” According to Jour, it is about missing her homeland but being grateful for Canada and the opportunities here.
For her final song, she brought Blue to the stage to sing a song that they created together called “Don’t Tell Me.”
As the duo explained to the crowd, the song was about heartbreak.
According to Jour, they always planned on “playing something together.”
Following these songs, Blue came onto the stage to do her set. She is a South Indian artist who represented her family through the music they created.
She says music runs through her family and they have “a small music academy” at home.
To start, Blue sang a song her mother made, called “Nanakuli.” She ended with another song by her mother from a popular movie called Roja.
“[Music] is who I am,” said Blue.
“Vittime d’amore” is available on Spotify.
Blue also plans to release music in the future, but she has no music out yet.