Interview with singer-songwriter Ana Miura

                         Photography by James Looker


                The best truths are the one's closest to home, natural as the air we breathe, the story of our lives are local configurations of the human heart. On Something New, Ottawa Ontario singer-songwriter Ana Miura paints an intimate musical portrait of family, love, small towns and all those ties that bind us to ourselves. "On a literal level," Ana writes, "the record is about me finding someone new in my romantic life, but in a bigger way it’s about the changes and the dynamics of life and how we are always growing. As we pass through life we express each phase in our own unique way – Something New is my fingerprint from the last few years." Songs that resound with deep spirit and heart, markers of then and now and of all that is still to come, the life and beauty pouring through Something New is the work of an incredibly gifted songwriter whose narratives enrich our own lives, as the truths closest to home are also the ones that carry us the longest distance, both anchor and drift. Miura gives us something to lean on, learn from and, pointing us true north, in the unique way of songs that know 'where they are going and where they have been'.


AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way?

Ana: Music has been a gift in my life. Singing and playing instruments has been a companion in joy and a comfort in sorrow, and always an outlet for my personal expression. Through touring I learned not only many of the skills I use today working with festivals, artists, and various organizations, but created lasting connections and friendships. I’ve learned how to plan, organize, problem solve, administrate, delegate, and deal with uncomfortable and unfair situations. Most of all I’ve learned in life that my relationships – business, personal, and spiritual – are what truly carry me through life. Music has taught me that.

AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?

Ana: I always loved music. My mother played guitar and piano and had an incredible singing voice – certainly the voice of the family! My father also loved music and it was encouraged and enjoyed by all in the house. When I was 8 or 9 years old I started taking piano lessons (conservatory), and joined choirs. By the time I was 15 I had taught myself how to play guitar and began to write my own songs. All-in-all, a very positive and supportive environment for music.

Throughout my life there have been many important songs I have heard that have inspired me, but early artists that strongly influenced me were Ani DiFranco, Sarah Harmer, Norah Jones, and more.

AHC:  Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper?

Ana: I recall being 16 years old, sitting in my bedroom with my guitar and my diary/poetry book and realizing that I could probably just put those two things together; and then wrote my first song. It seemed like a natural accident that it all came together and although I didn’t write another song for a year, it did nudge me in the right direction.

AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc? What are the works you could not possibly live without?

Ana: Early on in my musical career I learned from all of my peers in the local music scene. Whether jamming with them and finding new chords, getting practical advice about touring and gigging (Marc Charron, Bryan Ruckstuhl), or inspiration (Amanda Rheaume), their influence was essential to my learning the first steps in the long journey of the art of and the business of music.

Pre-career, it would certainly be my music teachers: Phoebe Toft (piano), those who taught me in choir (Valerie Long), and various high school band concert directors (Neil Bateman). And, of course my parents who always encouraged my to express myself musically.

As for works I could not live without… that’s such a tough question, as those seems to grow and change as I grow and change. I always have trouble naming my ‘favourite’ artist or song, but would rather tell you what has been catching my ear as of late.

AHC:  What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak?

Ana: In my mind, the best songs resonate deeply inside you. They are able to access an emotion from you – joy, sorrow, love, hate, loneliness, happiness, etc. I try to capture those feelings through the lyric, the melody and the tone so we can all have at least a few minutes to connect in such a real way.

AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, a slightly imperfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, states of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener, even if only momentarily?

Ana: Songwriting has definitely been a healer for me, but it has also taken other forms too, as you say, ‘translate a feeling’. I hope to be true with my expression and if someone relates and it helps them through a tough time, or they are taken away for a moment into a different experience, then I feel it’s a job well done.  The creation of a song has always helped me to look at the moments in my life and understand them better; a catharsis.

AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?

Ana: My fondest musical memories span all the environments that they have been housed in – playing the piano in my parent’s house, sharing songs around a campfire, sharing the stage with a musical hero, ridiculous moments on tour with too little sleep and too many miles to drive, and of course, the relationships: the people I’ve met, the friends I’ve made, and the music we have all shared.

AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?

Ana: Perhaps it’s my psychology degree always at work, but relationships have really always been the centre of what I write about. It started out as romantic relationships but lately I am delving more into talking about familial relationships and the stories of my family.

AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Or what kinds of things have others told you that have helped push you past moments of self doubt/creative blocks?

Ana: Continue to create. Continue to collaborate. Take care of and support one another in your musical community. Write and re-write and re-write. When you hit a road block (or a whole traffic jam), try taking things into yourself (concerts, plays, theatre, visual art, nature, travel), and then output. Write terrible songs that you think suck – it helps you get to the good ones!

AHC: Something New was released this July, could you explore for us some of your ideas behind this record, what its message/appeal to the world is, your hopes for where this lands?

Ana: Something New on a literal level is about me finding someone new in my romantic life, but in a bigger way it’s about the changes and the dynamics of life and how we are always growing. As we pass through life we express each phase in our own unique way – Something New is my fingerprint from the last few years. I hope it reaches the ears of many, and resonates.



For more visit www.anamiura.com/
Something New available now via anamiura.bandcamp.com/