HILARY HOSIA
It takes an artist to know one.
Seconds after Austin Willacy met with DJ Yastamon (AKA Yasta Bolkeim) at the popular radio station Power 103.5FM last Friday, the two instantly clicked as if they’ve known each other for years.
In the live broadcast, Willacy shared how he started his music career, the same inspiration he shared earlier with students from Assumption, Majuro Cooperative School and Marshall Islands High School.
The two joked about the adrenaline rush felt by most visitors before the plane lands on the Amata Kabua International Airport before Willacy gave the listeners a preview of what he’d perform at the International Conference Center the next day.
Willacy was welcomed by a large crowd at the ICC, where he performed several cover songs along with the songs he composed. He even joked with the audience, saying that if they’ve never seen a black man yodel, that night was the moment.
“Find what you want and become what you want,” Willacy told the many students he met and performed for. “I wanted to become a lot of things,” he said. “I wanted to be a doctor at one point, so I studied to become a doctor. But then, a girl I’ve always admired wanted me to join the choir to fill in the tenor group. She and others, like my former teacher and friend Andrew Garrod, inspired me to be me.”
Prior to his departure to Hawaii Monday, DJ Yasta dedicated a farewell song on Power 103.5FM and wished Willacy a safe trip. “Tell DJ Yasta I said thank you,” he told the Journal before boarding the plane. “I love Marshall Islands, thank you.”
Willacy was a former student of Garrod at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Read more about this in the February 3, 2017 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.