Issah Contractor has joined the Victoria Conservatory of Music Faculty to teach percussion and electric bass for the Chwyl Family School of Contemporary Music. Issah teaches lessons at both the Conservatory’s main downtown location, and at the Langford location in Westhills.
Born in Canada but having grown up in Kenya, Issah’s formative years were unusual, and provided him with great opportunities to learn music and drumming mostly through experience in professional performance settings. After returning to Canada as a teen, and completing high school in BC, Issah attended the Vancouver Community College as a music major on a full scholarship. Three years later, he was gigging at the top night clubs in Vancouver, as well as performing in creative circles beside various VCC faculty members, such as Francois Houle.
Having achieved numerous awards and achievements over the years, Issah continues to be a powerful force within the local and international music community. One of the most notable achievements being selected out of 10 thousand drummers worldwide to hold the title of ‘Best Drummer’ at the Roland Worldwide V drums competition held in Frankfurt, Germany.
Aside from working as a full-time musician, Issah has a desire to make films and completed his first (after 5 years of production) in 2019. It was an Opera that he wrote and directed (knowing nothing about directing) named Ferriel. Ferriel won two awards at minor competitions and was an official selection at the Trie-Cities International Film Fest. His latest completed short was released in Jan 2021, entitled ‘Came with Cuffs’. This Dark Comedy thus far has won 10 awards and 5 nominations at various international competitions. Following this, he completed a feature script called ‘Operation Black Widow’ that won two awards and placed as a Quarter Finalist in the New York International Screenplay Competition, and released another Short Film titled ‘Will You Marry Me’. Currently, Issah continues to write scripts, perform and record music and make films.