(Original Photo By: Gabriel Wickbold)
What would you do if you lost the people most important to you? Do you think you’d be able to carry on and pursue happiness? What would it be like to pick up and move to a new country and have to learn a new language? What happens when Plan A doesn’t work out and you have to find something new? Actually, a lot of positive things can happen. Just ask Felipe Ramos, better known as FTampa.
Hailing from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the DJ/Producer behind tracks like “Kick it Hard”, “That Drop”, and “Strike it Up” did not have it easy growing up. He never met his father, and his mother died in a motorcycle accident when he was only six years old. His beloved grandparents raised him. Unfortunately, however, they too passed away when Felipe was just a teenager…leaving Felipe all alone and to fend for himself.
How can someone overcome so much personal loss? For FTampa, it was his love of music that saved him. And like so many other electronic acts, EDM is not where he started. His first instrument was the guitar, which he played in a rock band and toured for quite a while. Like so many of us, he saw an electronic performance, and he knew which direction to go.
“I’ve played a lot of musical instruments since I was a kid. I loved to be in bands and tour with my friends. I chose electronic music after I learned that I could do everything on my own. I always wanted to be involved in every part of music composition.”
That, and the rock thing just didn’t work out. He worked the usual day jobs while honing his craft at night. Felipe says that producing kind of came naturally to him because of his strong musical background. He said that above all else, he is a musician at heart. The love of music is what keeps him going and he hopes that he brings joy to the world with his own unique productions. Felipe loves the overall positivity of the scene.
“There are a lot of things that inspire me to keep going. I love to see upcoming producers doing amazing things, and the top producers improving their work every release. Seeing that the whole industry is working hard to improve itself is a big motivator. I also have a great team that supports and empowers my project. I am really thankful to everyone around me. As far as making an impact on the world, I would like to show that music can change us. It can give us energy even when the world is going through tough times.”
It’s been a long journey for FTampa – from his humble beginnings in Brazil to having tracks released on elite labels like Revealed and Musical Freedom. Despite having received a lot of bad breaks early in life, he remains positive, focused on his music and striving to make the world a better place to live.
Watch Aspire to Inspire Live featuring FTampa here: