The Ottawa Star

Top Menu

  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Sexy Pages
  • Meet Locals

Main Menu

  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Sexy Pages
  • Meet Locals

logo

Header Banner

The Ottawa Star

  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Wheelchair Accessibility Renovations, an Expensive Process

  • Ottawa mayor and transit chair proposing three-month OC Transpo fare freeze

  • Ottawa budget: City plans $3.76 billion in spending in 2020 with focus on improving OC Transpo

  • Liberals regroup in Ottawa, trying to reconcile climate action with western alienation

  • Ottawa’s ‘draconian’ Airbnb rules will hurt students, landlord says

News
Home›News›How jazz helped one laid-off Ottawa tech worker find a new purpose

How jazz helped one laid-off Ottawa tech worker find a new purpose

By admin
August 4, 2019
152
0
Share:

Visitors to the ByWard Market in Ottawa have probably found themselves enjoying the smooth jazz strains of a guitarist who frequents the area.

But it’s unlikely any of them have guessed at the tumultuous journey that led this particular street musician to his corner.

Ed Rowland is a man enjoying his second lease on life.

The jazz musician has been playing in the market in Ottawa for five years now, and told CTV News Ottawa that every year his music is getting “better and better and better.”

Looking at his smiling face and bright eyes behind red-rimmed glasses, it’s hard to imagine Rowland coming from a place of suffering.

But before he picked up the guitar, Rowland belonged to a very different world. He used to be a software developer, working during Ottawa’s high-tech boom. He had all the markers of success: a house, a regular paycheque, a wife and two kids.

Then the stock market crashed.

“I got laid off at the age of 50 and I could not find another job for about three years,” Rowland said. “And at the end of that period came (the) realization that maybe I was never going to work as a software engineer again.”

His world started to crumble.

“I lost everything,” Rowland said. “Bankrupt. Debt. Evicted.”

He lived in the Salvation Army for a time, with “no idea how to fix” his situation.

That was when music came into his life. Rowland attended a jazz workshop. He calls it “the beginning of this life.

“I wanted to learn. I came back determined to master it, really determined to master it.”

And that love of music lifted him out of his despair, and into the market and community he now thinks of as home.

Rowland’s story might sound like a fall from grace when stripped to the facts — laid off from a salaried job, performing six days a week on the streets to make money — but for Rowland, it feels more like he is a phoenix risen from the ashes.

“I absolutely love what I do,” he said. “I have never been happier in my entire life.”

His rebirth hasn’t come without hardship. Rowland pays for his rent largely in “loonies and toonies,” he said. To supplement the busking, he offers lessons on his website, where he can be hired to provide music at events as well.

But he marvels at the fact that he is “part of 0.03 per cent of all musicians who make their entire living from making music, and that’s a gift.

“In my previous life there were some very happy times,” Rowland concluded, “but there is something extraordinarily beautiful about living this way.”

(Visited 7 times, 1 visits today)
Previous Article

This Mega Cheese Festival Is Hitting Ottawa ...

Next Article

Lottoland Allows Canadians Play International Lotteries Online

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ More Than Two Dozen People Sickened by E. Coli Linked to Recalled Robin Hood Flour

    April 5, 2017
    By admin
  • News

    Nearly a year after racist incident, Ottawa police officer paddles with family of Annie Pootoogook

    August 10, 2017
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ City Water Quality Monitoring to go high-tech with Help From Ericsson, Rogers

    November 17, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ NRC Employees Told to Drink Bottled Water 2 Years Before Neighbours Warned

    May 27, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ Canada Announces Sanctions on 27 Top Syrian Officials in Effort to Pressure Assad to end Violence

    April 15, 2017
    By admin
  • News

    Ottawa United church working to sponsor Syrian family of 6

    September 10, 2015
    By admin

Advertisements


AirBNB

Popular on The Ottawa Star

  1. AgoraCosmopolitan
  2. Agora Publishing Consortium
  3. Le Journal Canadien
  4. Dominion: Food News
  5. LeCanadian.com
  6. The Ottawa Star
  7. Capitalistocracy.com
  8. Trudeausociety.com
  9. OttawaRestaurantGoers.com
  10. Toronto Business Journal
  11. Blogpei.ca
  12. Synergeticsgroup.ca
  13. Happyhomeinc.ca
  14. JournaldeGatineau.ca
  15. OttawaBusinessDaily.ca
  16. AgoraBooks.ca
  17. Thenextweb.ca
  18. BBW Singles
  19. Transgender Singles
  20. Montreal Business Journal
  21. Astroglossary.ca
  22. New York and New Jersey Business Journal
  23. Ottawa Book Expo - Salon du Livre d'Ottawa
  24. TorontoBook Expo - Salon du Livre d'Toronto
  25. Vancouver Business Journal

Popular ARTICLES

  • Ottawa's 'draconian' Airbnb rules will hurt students, landlord says Ottawa’s ‘dra... An Ottawa landlord says the city's proposed short-term...
  • Ottawa's largest school board plans public consultations on its 'outdated' dress code Ottawa’s largest sc... Maizie Schwets was “dress-coded” in Grade 3 and sent to...
  • Ottawa mayor and transit chair proposing three-month OC Transpo fare freeze Ottawa mayor and transit... Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Transit Commission Chair Al...
  • 14 Christmas Markets & Events To Hit Up In Ottawa This Holiday Season 14 Christmas Markets ... Who else is excited about the holiday season? Christmas...
  • World’s first humanoid robot makes friends in Ottawa World’s first humanoid ro... Pepper can dance, sing and take a selfie, and it’s also...
  • New panel to explore how to give Alberta more 'leverage' with Ottawa, Kenney says New panel to explore how... Premier Jason Kenney announced Saturday the members of...
  • Wheelchair Accessibility Renovations, an Expensive Process Wheelchair Accessibility... Imagine being unable to gain access to a room in your h...
  • 'Ottawa's tap water is one of the best' High lead levels found in water, but experts say Ottawa fares well ‘Ottawa’s tap... A new study has found that some Canadian cities hav...
  • Ottawa budget: City plans $3.76 billion in spending in 2020 with focus on improving OC Transpo Ottawa budget: City plans... The City of Ottawa tabled a draft 2020 budget Wednesday...
  • Liberals regroup in Ottawa, trying to reconcile climate action with western alienation Liberals regroup in Ottaw... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with incoming...
  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us