From studying abroad, some students bring back a souvenir, a gift for their mom, an international long-distance situationship. Damoi Morgan ’25 brought back an album.
The composer and pannist premiered his debut album, “Reflections Abroad,” at the Williams Center for the Arts on Tuesday.
At the performance, Morgan and nine other musicians — together called the Freeformers — played 10 original songs. Several poems, a five-minute documentary of Morgan’s travels abroad and a solo by pianist Owen York ‘26 punctuated the concert.
The Double-A Quartet, another student band, opened for the Freeformers.
After the event, Morgan invited the audience to join him at Portlock Cultural Center for authentic Jamaican food catered by his father.
“My song titles definitely correlate to each of the feelings that you will go through if you are abroad, which is why I made this album,” Morgan said.
These songs included “We Outside,” a phrase that became a mantra for Morgan abroad.
“I stayed in Croatia for a week, I stayed in Bulgaria for a week, I stayed in Portugal for a week,” Morgan said. “While I was in these places, we outside.”
The conversations he had with his advisors influenced this experience: “They said, just do it all.”
Another song title, “Bul Dakal Fecc Bi,” is a phrase in the Senegalese language of Wolof that means, “Don’t stop dancing.” Morgan’s translator and guide in Senegal wrote a related poem for Morgan, which professor and chair of Africana Studies Wendy Wilson-Fall read before the song.
A third song, “Simmer,” explores the Black experience across several different cultures. Image Patterson ‘25 wrote a poem for “Simmer” and performed it on stage.
“It’s definitely a fresh, new vibe,” Olivia Wund ‘28, the flutist, said of the album.
“Getting the whole holistic story of not just the music but his own personal journey made the whole thing really, really powerful,” said Holly Smyth ‘27, who attended the concert. “There was a great energy in the room. Just the diversity of the instruments that were being used was seriously impressive.”
“It was really captivating to watch from start to finish,” she continued.
Morgan plays the steelpan, a percussion instrument that originated in Trinidad and Tobago less than a century ago.
“Damoi is on the forefront of exploring how it can be incorporated into a variety of styles,” said assistant music professor Akiva Zamcheck of the steelpan.
Morgan’s album is part of an independent study he is undertaking with Zamcheck for his senior thesis on the instrument.
“With how many miles my steelpan has, I am ambassador of this instrument,” Morgan said.
Morgan began his trip abroad when he studied sustainable finance in Switzerland in the second semester of his junior year. During weekends, he visited cities such as Paris and Istanbul and vlogged his experiences.
After the semester, Morgan used the Assante-Carrasco Fund for Honors Research Travel, the Gladstone Whitman ‘49 Fellowship and the Digital Humanities Summer Scholarship to continue his travels abroad.
After Morgan composed the music, he built the band, by reaching out to other musicians. Most of these musicians are Lafayette students. They practiced together during fall semester on Thursday nights.
“It’s always super productive and it’s always really fun,” said bassist Max O’Rourke ‘26 about rehearsals.
“We are all forces in our own right,” Morgan said when describing his band members. “It’s beautiful because there’s so much fusion happening all the time in every single song.”
Morgan plans to get the album mixed for release on streaming platforms.
In the future, he wants to attend grad school in London.
“I want to be heavily involved in music festivals, curation, booking, facilitating a musical space,” Morgan said. “I will be playing music forever. I will be performing probably forever. So this is just the starting point.”