Review & interview: JACOB KHALIL “I STILL BELIEVE”
The history of revolution isn’t a pretty story. Through struggles, conflicts, and pains, we thrive for a brighter future. We evolve as a society as we protest, confront issues left unresolved from the past. In the past year, racial conflicts, political division, immigration, fearmongering, among other issues resurfaced the United States in its acute form, many have felt heartbroken.
Overlooking the Hudson River, where revolutionary war forts were once stationed, Jacob Khalil had an epiphany. “I thought about all that we are trying to accomplish as a country,” said Khalil, “I thought about my father who is an immigrant from the Middle East and the many struggles' people of different ethnicities, religions, lifestyles, skin colors have had to endure in a country that claims to be free,” he continued,
“The truth is that it’s taken a long time for everyone from every walk of life to feel free, but we have gotten to where we are because of an endless number of sacrifices by brave men and women who stood for what was promised in the constitution and insisted that it be applied to everyone. I think that’s a beautiful thing, and our ability to change as a country is what makes America what it is”
With the spark of a song to his country, Khalil rushed home and captured the idea with his piano, and later turned into an empowering anthem from the heart. As opposed to a political song, “I Still Believe” is a love letter to the United States and a reminder of the strength we have as a nation.
“I really do love America,” he said, “My father has always reminded me how lucky I am to live in a country where I can be whatever I want to be and do whatever I want to do. It’s not a perfect fairytale sort of place, but it is a place that was founded on the singular principle of ‘liberty and justice for all.’”
As a professional musician who makes his living making music, music has become an inseparable part of Jacob Khalil’s life. From an opera singer to a jazz pianist to a songwriter, he has found fulfillment in doing what he loves.
“Being a musician is...my life. The beauty of it all is that my music has been a refuge for others in ways that I wouldn’t have guessed,” said Khalil, “some people at various night-life venues I play in have told me through their tears that what I do is ‘sacred and ‘special.’ I find great joy in knowing that as a musician, what I do helps others to celebrate, mourn, be happy, fall in love, or basically just have the human experience.”
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