Today we’d like to introduce you to Amir Ouaddi.
Hi Amir, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, to immigrant parents of Mexican & Moroccan ancestry, and I am carrying this blood proudly. Born with a potentially cancerous growth on my belly, it seemed Death was on my trail from the beginning. Raised beneath the cultural tapestry of the 1990s gang-dominated LA, growing up was a daily course in survival, a theme which made up most of my life as I navigated the ghettos of the cities and the mind.
As a means to cope with my life, I sought refuge in music and, eventually, in drugs, which swiftly led me into a deep, decades-long pit of despair, through which Music was indeed my constant companion. At age 19, as a means of recovery, I took to playing music, picking up the guitar, and finally accepting the gift of being an artist, which was with me from the very beginning. Soon, I would carve a path north, eventually settling in San Francisco, where I would cut my teeth as a starving artist and struggling, homeless heroin/crack addict. It was in this chapter that I found my way to the Peruvian jungles, where I would encounter the healing plant medicines of the Amazonian tribes, and through these medicines, I found my liberation from my addiction to heroin and, eventually, cocaine & alcohol.
Needless to say, my years in the jungle fed my spiritual growth tremendously and would eventually lead me down a path of Service to something much Greater than myself, which, for lack of better words, we can call God. That which has many names, and yet, is un-nameable.
In the very spaces where I found my own healing, I began being initiated in the ways of being in service to those looking for the same kind of healing, liberation, and self-realization as I had found.
I do not call myself a Shaman or a Healer, but certainly, I am an instrument of God, dedicating my life to be a clear vessel for His Holy works to move through me and reach those it is meant to reach. I owe my life to the plants and to the music, and so it is only appropriate that I work intimately with both of these.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I became a father- the title I am most proud of. Now, as I write this, he is 7 years old, and my life revolves around guiding him in the ways of Life and being for him the Father that I wanted and needed for myself. I am the founder/owner and executive chef of Cocina Nagual, which serves as a beacon of Ancestral Remembrance through food. I also continue to deepen in my work as a Ceremonialist, working with the Sacred Plant teachers in healing ceremonies as well as facilitating Men’s Healing Circles in collaboration with various organizations. And lastly, I continue to cultivate my greatest passion, Music, through my solo project Blackie Valentino- an L.A. based Psychedelic-Soul/Funk unit, bringing my own interpretation of the sounds which raised me and spreading a message of hope and unity, laid over some righteous grooves.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
By no means has it been a smooth road, though I have come to accept my plight and am grateful for the resilience and strength it has instilled in me. Grateful for the hard lessons and struggles that have humbled me and been my greatest teachers. As I mentioned before, my path was riddled with struggles/challenges, many of which came as a consequence of my own poor decision-making, while others simply came -such as early childhood depression, growing up in a lower/middle-class family, money was never something that was abundant. Food was always on the table, and clothes were always on my back, but it didn’t go much further than that, and watching my family “kill” themselves only to just get us by, I knew one thing- I did not want that life.
My own relationship to money would be much worse as I grew older and flew the coop. By 20, I would be truly in the grips of poverty, spending many years homeless- from couches to cars to eventually the streets and parks. Of course, my addiction to drugs and alcohol had a lot to do with this, and my lack of a will to live didn’t help motivate me.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Depending on where you go and who you talk to, I will be known for different things; Some know me as a chef, while others know me as a musician or a ceremonialist. All of these can be true, and I don’t see them as separate, yet the title I am most comfortable with is that of a Father. Labels have always made me uncomfortable, and I’m still working on that- for me, food, music, and spirituality are all art forms, so I suppose I can be best known as an artist! Now, as for what sets me apart? Hard to say, as I can’t see myself the way others do, and I don’t like to compare, but what I know to be true about how I do anything is that I do it authentically. I do not compromise my integrity (and maybe that has hindered me sometimes, haha!), but I do everything the way only I know how, without trying to be this or that. So, whether it’s the way I cook, the way I play, or the way I pray, you will know it’s distinctively mine because of the way I honor my own uniqueness, as everybody should! I’m not reinventing the wheel, but I am keeping it real.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
My industry? Well, I’m pretty blessed in that regard because people will always need food and music! Haha. I don’t see that going anywhere, at least not in my lifetime. And if that changes, finish me! Haha. All jokes aside, trends come and go, and I’ve never been a big fan of them, as it’s pretty rare to see something truly unique in the sense that it’s NEVER been seen or done. Almost everything is recycled to some degree. Even the most innovative industries eventually circle back to pay homage to the O.G., and I’ve always considered myself an old-fashioned kind of cat; I love tradition and have no problem being the one that keeps it traditional- as a matter of fact, it’s an honor!
Cocina Nagual, my food business, is literally about keeping the ancestral way alive.
My music will always pay respects to the greats of old and keep the classics alive.
I suppose if people get too far out with their innovations, I will always serve as a reminder of where we came from.
Hell, I think we need that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blackievalentino.bandcamp.com/album/gemini-in-blue
- Instagram: condorcito_eurotinay
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amir.ouaddi.5/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F8Ywflb4x8
- Other: https://linktr.ee/amirouaddi
Image Credits
Yvette Aispuro
Annette Aispuro
Greg Ontiveros
