Playing the drums is a physical exercise. Drummers need to have absurd precision and coordination, and the ability to execute at ridiculous speed. Timing, concentration and confidence are essential. One false step and everything collapses. Imagine doing all of this without being able to see. Jean Marais has never known anything else.
Marais was born blind. He got into music when he started playing classical guitar with his brother before choosing to find his own path playing the drums. Blindness has never been an impediment to him. On the contrary, Marais thinks of his inability to see as strength, as a way to better understand music.
Today Marais run a rehearsal studio in Stellenbosch, playing for a number of different bands as a professional session drummer. He is unconcerned with the stigmas that surround being blind, choosing to live his life according to his own principles and passions.
