A young Bermudian is putting his own spin on a family legacy of music, while studying at a prestigious British music school.

Desta Zion Wilson, 26, is one of several generations of the Caisey family to pursue a passion for music.

He is the grandson of June Caisey Dill and the son of Phiemma M. Wilson of Caisey Family Productions, a group that has organised many musical concerts to benefit of local charities.

Some of their causes have included helping individual cancer patients, the Bermuda Autism Society, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Bermuda, children with AIDS attending summer camp, and the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged among many others.

“I have been performing since 1997, when I was 17 years old,” said Mr. Wilson, who was back on the Island for Christmas vacation.

He is currently in a one-year diploma guitar course at the Contemporary School of Music at Guildford, England.

“To get into the school you had to take a test, do the scales and do a reading test as well,” Mr. Wilson said. “You had to play a rhythm part. Here in Bermuda, I am mainly a vocal artist, but out there in England my main instrument is guitar.”

He decided to get a diploma in guitar rather than some other instrument, because he thought a guitar was most practical for a vocalist. He also likes to write his own songs.

“I write about anything,” Mr. Wilson said. “Some of my songs are about love. I do my best to write about life. Being out there focusing on the guitar has been difficult.”

While at school he has been working on different guitar techniques, and learning rhythm parts.

“At the Academy of Contemporary Music, they encourage guitar players to be able to sing,” he said. “A lot of guys are afraid to sing, but if you sing you get more gigs.

“If you can sing and play, you may be more employable than those who are great guitarists but can’t sing. I am just trying to get a better grasp of the instrument.”

Before going to England, he played and sang for Caisey Family Productions, and also Chewstick, a local performance group.

In England he is gaining some independence and developing his own style of music.

He characterises his music as a mixture of things.

“I was thinking about this before,” he said. “Reggae fusion might be a good way to describe it. It is like a mixture between reggae and dance hall.

“When I was young I listened to Bob Marley, and soul music, Stevie Wonder, All Green and others.”

He said, although he misses his family, it is good to be on his own.

“I am very proud of my family,” he said. “My mother and my grandmother have done a lot of charitable work.

“A year ago this January they won a Drum Major Award for their contributions to the community.”

Mr. Wilson’s earliest memories of music are of jamming sessions with his uncles at his grandmother’s house.

“When my family gets together sometimes we play music for fun,” he said. “I do that with one uncle in particular, Taur Caisey. I also sometimes play with my cousin Mitchell (Live Wire) Trott. We will play the guitar and the drum. We just write songs and do a freestyle thing.

“My uncles were a big influence on me. Two of my uncles use to DJ reggae dance hall. When I was little I would try to chant for a long time. Now they are very proud of me.”

He said his interesting in “chanting” diminished when he discovered song writing in his fifth year of high school.

Now he hopes to become a recording artist when he finishes the programme in England.

“Hopefully, I will get good enough for that to be a session player or something like that,” he said. “I want to be in the music industry, but I am not yet sure where I will fit in. That is what I am trying to establish.”

At the Academy of Contemporary Music, Mr. Wilson could choose to go on to a two year degree programme. He could also specialise in guitars, vocals or bass.

“They use to have classes for DJs, but there wasn’t that much of a demand,” he said. “It is a good school, but very small.”

He said one of the benefits of studying music in another country, is that he is being exposed to a lot of different music.

“I am listening to more rock, and punk and music like that,” he said, “whereas here in Bermuda we tend to listen to a lot of reggae, rhythm and blues and dance hall and stuff like that.

“The school has helped me to learn a lot of new techniques. I have met some good upcoming musicians like myself.”

Another good thing about the school, is exposure to professionals in the British music industry.

Meeting with people in the industry is already causing him to rethink previous approaches to getting into the business.

“When I graduated from high school a close friend of mine introduced me to this guy named Shannon Tuzo,” said Mr. Wilson. “He had a sound system, and he was one of the people who pushed me.

“I am really grateful for that. He has a neighbour who has an independent record label, Ghetto Quality Records.

“I was supposed to have a record album coming out, but now I am not sure about that. He is the producer. I was working on that. Being away, we had an industry day.

“I didn’t have anything to give the industry professionals that were there. I didn’t feel comfortable giving out CDs yet.

“I talked to this guy who was a representative of a record label. He said it didn’t make any sense putting out an album.

“It was better to put out a demo or just two or three songs. He said make sure that you are really satisfied about the quality of what you put out.”

Mr. Wilson does not have any particular concert scheduled, but he thinks the next thing he might perform in may be a Caisey Family production to celebrate his grandmother’s 70th birthday in June.