“Southern Time” was the first song T wrote as he turned 21 in 1997.
By then, he had known of his HIV-positive status for several months and was beginning to come to terms with what the diagnosis meant for the rest of his life. Music still called to him—yet no longer the classical path he had once pursued. Inspired by documentaries on John Lennon and Bob Marley, T set out to create his own version of a universal anthem—something with the power of Lennon’s “Imagine”—a song that could inspire both individuals and the world to be better. Out of that purpose, “Southern Time” was born.
The name itself carries deep meaning. Until his diagnosis, T had lived his entire life in Canada and briefly in Germany, identifying fully as a Westerner. But his experience of two years of psycho-sexual abuse by his cello professor—an African-American man from the American South who withheld his own HIV-positive status—changed him profoundly. Through that trauma, and through the broader knowledge of the world his professor imparted, T began to feel aligned not with the privileged West but with the struggles of the Global South. Like so many who live there, he now understood the reality of being disenfranchised, marginalized, discriminated against, and forced to live under the constant threat of disease. “Southern Time” became both a personal declaration and a universal call—a song that gave T new purpose and voice.
