Modern Luxuria Vol 20 January 2022

Flying Solo

Local rocker Zackaria is a one-man music machine

WORDS BY BRANDY BELITSKY PHOTOGRAPHY BY JELENA KOVACEVIC

www.modernluxuria.com

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January 2022

www.modernluxuria.com ZACKARIA

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Preparing for his last day in Canada, local rocker Zackaria Watfa is rushing around the city looking for a last‑minute rapid antigen test before he flies to Belize for a month‑long solo backpacking adventure across Central America. 2020 gave us many obstacles that have led us to this strange new reality we are now living in. While the world was in lockdown back in the summer of 2020, Zackaria was putting the finishing touches on his first full‑length studio album. What was it like releasing an album in the midst of a pandemic? Being Zackaria’s first album, he didn’t really have anything to compare it to, however, he missed out on an album release show, which typically follows a formal album release.

Born and raised in Edmonton, Zackaria Watfa is an electrician by trade, working for a local gas plant, and a rock star by passion. Zackaria found his love for the stage as the frontman for the local rock cover group, “Bandana Gold”, but his love for music goes back much further than that. When Zackaria was just twelve years old, his neighbour lent him a guitar. He spent countless hours studying the instrument and trying to figure out songs by his favourite artists. This paved the path to discovering his passion for rock and heavy metal music. After he taught himself how to play the guitar, he went on to also teach himself bass guitar and singing, accomplishing the multi‑instrumentalist he is today.

Zackaria’s love for the rock genre inspired him to start writing his own music. Around four years ago, Zackaria started his solo rock project, “Zackaria”. His self‑titled album, released in 2020, is a heavy‑hitter, so heavy in fact, I was astonished to learn that there were only two people behind the entire album. Zackaria wrote and played all of the instruments on the album aside from the drums, which were written and recorded by local drummer Brett Reid. The entire album was recorded at Brett’s studio, “Red Bear Records”.

The first track on the album, titled “Break The Cycle”, was first released as a single and is the perfect song to kick off the eight track album. The lyrics touch on addiction and talk about being stuck in a monotonous life. If you’re a fan of heavier music, like myself, you’ll also want to check out “Machine” and “Rise Till Death”. If you are looking for something a bit lighter, you can check out his songs “Escape This Life” and “Runaway” which are both singles that he released back in 2019. He is also currently working on an acoustic single that he plans to release in 2022.

As for concerts, Zackaria’s goal when he arrives back in Canada in the new year, is to find musicians to form a band with so that he can hit the stage with his music in 2022.

@zackariamusic

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January 2022