Born in Martinique, French Antilles, and after growing up in Burundi, Africa, Jalal Sunstrum has always had a passion and fascination with words and how they can work together to create melodic and captivating sounds.
Indeed, his early interest in the music career actually began a little differently from most artists. By the age of nine, he started dabbling in poetry before going on to develop his skills over the years. However, it wouldn’t be until the age of fifteen that he had his first experience with music; initially, he joined a Bahá’í choir, and then he began expanding his reach into other fields such as jazz and folk rock. This would form the basis of his musical career, and there’s no doubt that these early influences play a significant role in Jalal Sunstrum’s songs these days.
At twenty-two years of age, Jalal joined his first punk rock band after moving to Canada, settling at the time in Quebec City. He then joined a metal band, Tereza, where he saw success throughout Quebec before beginning to tour the wider country; the band even went on to become finalists in the Polliwog Contest for Musique Plus.
Undeniably, Jalal’s career has seen him exploring many different fields of music, and he has also taken inspiration from many big names such as Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran, considering these individuals’ key motivations for his own success. Despite his engagement with the music industry, though, he’s never fully lost that passion for poetry, and he continues to publish his poems to this day.