Ethnik Festival of Arts & Culture 2023

Robson Maurice who is also known as RobyMisterDrums is a musician and entrepreneur. He was born and raised in Montreal, Canada to Haitian parents and he grew up in a family of ten children. Music was an integral part of the family as his parents both sang in church choirs as well as at home during private family gatherings. Later, his siblings followed in the footsteps of his parents by joining church choirs and groups. Unlike the rest of his family, Robson was less interested in singing. As a child, he applied himself to drumming at home, to the horror of his siblings. It is at the age of 16 that his gift was revealed during a church event. His talent brought him to play in Montreal, New York, and Boston on his first year and a half of drumming. Robson is a World drummer who has no true preference in regard to styles of music and purposely never mastered any genres of music. The sole purpose was to not limit himself to any type of music and create connections through various cultures and learn from them. However, he started his career by mostly playing Gospel music in Montreal, which allowed him to meet a wide range of great musicians that helped him grow musically. After playing Gospel music for so long, he decided to take his chances in different styles so he could push himself. Over time, it allowed him to eventually play for over 50 different nations. With that, Robson now plays over 60 styles of music and hundreds of different drum patterns. Playing is not all there is about him as he also hopes to do more humanitarian work as he did when he went to Haiti in 2012. Although his first reason for going was to play drums, he quickly discovered that he could use the arts to teach and give opportunities to others who have big dreams. He now lives in Calgary where he continued his career as a drummer. He played in different venues such as the Stampede, the Calgary Tower, the Epcor Centre (now Arts Commons), and many others. His abilities have been noticed nationally and internationally. He was found four times in the top 20 best drummers in the country, and he has played for award-winning international artists such as Shirley Simpson, Dee Jones, Sonie Badu, Uche Agu, Soukous Star, Kidum, and much more. He also played in various genres of album or singles such as hip hop, R&B, jazz, Gospel, and African music to name a few. In 2014, he retired from being a full-time drummer to focus on different projects. He is currently creating music, giving drum lessons, and building his corporation. He created a style of music called Classical Soul Music, and his compositions are played by an orchestra he founded and named Key 30 Orchestra. His vision is to tell life stories through his music and to encourage people that despite our many differences, we all go through hardships that we can relate to. Yet, we can all become better if we persevere. Robson has a long list of dreams and goals where God plays the most important role in writing his life story.