The Meet The Artist series highlights talented performing arts professionals from diverse backgrounds. We’re back with this month’s featured artist. We encourage you to read these interviews with an open mind, and to remember that starting a relationship with an artist can be something smaller than a mainstage show such as inviting them to lead a workshop, sit on a panel, or collaborate with another artist.
This month Ksenija Spasic interviewed Ana Lía.
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Your musical influences and your career span a number of different genres. Could you talk about some of your favourite things to sing and how they engage you artistically?
I do have a wide array of musical influences and I draw on them all for my performance material. I love fusing them under the umbrella of pop! Each of them makes me feel different wonderful sensations! For example, Flamenco is vocally and rhythmically challenging and it can be serious, somber but also playful. With Dominican genres, I feel at home, I feel fun, light but also nostalgic. When I infuse jazz vocals into some of my songs, I enjoy playing with agility, rhythms and quirky melodies. In short, the variety of genres I play with allows me to explore all of my artistic self.
Ontario Presents aims to enrich the variety of artists who tour this province’s communities, but you’ve already toured Ontario with some Canadian Flamenco dance companies. Tell us about the experiences of that tour. Were there any places or moments that stood out in a positive way? Were there any challenges?
I’ve done multiple Flamenco shows and Ana Lía shows in various cities across Ontario. I really enjoy getting out of Toronto and bringing art, culture and entertainment to other communities all over the province because it’s a wonderful way to connect with different people. Art is a massive medium of unity and connection and I love being its vessel.
I love seeing how other communities live, their architecture and lifestyles. The biggest highlight for me so far, performing outside of Toronto, was when I opened for Alex Cuba in concert in 2022, at the Jackson Triggs Amphitheatre in Niagara.
It was a magical night.
The most challenging part of touring Ontario/Canada, is how costly it is to travel (gas, lodging, food, etc) + long hours of driving.
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You’ve also done some international touring. In what ways do you feel music can transcend borders and cultures? In what ways are those distinctions important?
Music transcends borders and cultures in every possible way. I think it is the artform with the greatest power to do that. With the power of melodies, rhythms and lyrics, and then the performer adding the interpretation of the message through them, you can make people unite in experiencing all sorts of emotions. Music is able to get us through grief, heartbreak, nostalgia, confusion. It can also give us joy and excitement; it can accompany us when we’re in love, it can remind us of the small pleasures of life.
And then there is the power of sharing cultures through music. Singing my music in Colombia, Spain and Estonia were such treats. I use a lot of Dominican slang in my music and I like explaining to the audience what those words mean in my culture and why I use them in my songs, and then the audience sings along with me! It’s a great way to spread awareness and increase visibility.
How does your art reflect who you are: your family, your history, the way you move through the world?
My art is an accurate depiction of who I am. I pour so many of my thoughts, fears, dreams and desires into my songwriting. I’ve written songs about my immigration journey, about losing my grandparents and dealing with grief, about falling in love, about letting go of people. I incorporate a lot of my Dominican roots into it by using Dominican vocabulary, rhythms, instruments (like güira and tambora) and/or subject matters related to DR.
What’s next? What are the dreams (and realities) for 2025 and beyond?
Late this summer, I will be releasing my next EP titled ‘Yo Soy Yo’, which translates to “I Am Me.”This EP mostly focuses on Dominican rhythms. I’m excited to do an EP release show at the Rivoli on September 20th!
I am also excited to play many different stages in Ontario this summer.
For the end of this year and next year, I’m focusing on doing songwriting sessions here in Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. I look forward to creating music with other creatives. I’m also hoping to do a few regional mini tours post-EP release.