AURESIA
AURESIA IS RISIN'!
Growing up in Alberta, in a musical Ukranian family, with a father who was in the choir and played the accordion and a mother who also sang and played the piano, Auresia had an inkling her life would always revolve around music. “I sang before I articulated my first words”, she said as she recalled her first memories of music. “I felt in my element, it was the only thing I really wanted to do, so I said, might as well dig deeper. I pretty much knew it at an early age, that music would be a big part of my life. When the question came 'what are you gonna do for the rest of your life', it was music, it was number one!”
At her parent’s dinner parties, Auresia and her brother would take centrestage and sing for the mixed Ukranian and Polish crowd. Her roots in Ukranian music greatly impacted her as she was drawn to its harmonies and elements of folk music. Over the years, rock, blues, music from the 1960's and 1970's, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, soul singer Etta James and Janis Joplin (who inspired her to learn to play the guitar as a teen), strongly influenced her.
However, it was at 17 years old in California when she came across the type of musical influences that would really capture her heart. “I stumbled upon a festival "Reggae on the River" (now called Reggae Rising). There were so many acts, beautiful people and positive vibes and something inside me transformed. I fell in love with reggae. I started songwriting and over time reggae became more and more apart of my music.” Her influences then evolved to include Marcia Griffiths, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Queen Ifrika and Tanya Stevens to name a few, mixed in with Bjork, Jill Scott, Eryka Badu, Van Van, Celia Cruz, Polo Montañez, Joe Arroyo and Rubén Blades.
The last few names indicate that her music is not one-dimensional or monolingual, but is as diverse as they come. Her latest album Risin', a reggae, latin, soul fusion, has elements of salsa, flamenco, rock and pop. This shows not only her musical range but her multilingual songwriting abilities. “I was inspired by moving to Montréal. I have French, English and Spanish songs because Montréal is so culturally diverse.” As for lyrical inspiration, Auresia details, “life experiences, interactions with people, the environment, people that affect me, spirituality, personal experiences on whatever affects me on a day to day basis; elements of everything”.
On this album Risin’, there’s an ethereal quality to her music. “My music is conscious and spiritually-based, but it's also fun." Her latest single ‘High’, really represents that light and airy spirit. “It's a feel good track” about “feeling on top of the world and high on life.” It also happens to be charting in Québec right now! Auresia also speaks heavily about love, all kinds of love. "My new album has a lot of worldly beats of flamenco and touches on aspects of love, from fun love to long distance love to planetary love, risqué love, to love of chocolate." She even praised Montréal for its chocolate. “It (Montréal) has some of the most amazing organic and fair-trade chocolate.”
From singing in front of her parents and friends at home, church and school from the age of three (3), to going on open stages at 15 when she first got her guitar to busking in her early teens, to performing professionally in 2006, Auresia has come a long way. She continues to rise and makes strides everyday. She advises that “as an independent artist, if that’s (music’s) your dream, just go for it. You have to love it because it can be a roller-coaster ride”.
Want to see Auresia live?
You can! She’ll be performing with a 10-piece band at popular Le Plateau club Les Bobards, this Thursday December 5th, showcasing worldy flavours and featuring songs from her new album, Risin’! Check out the event page here!
For more on Auresia and her music:
Like her on Facebook or tweet what’s up on Twitter. You can also check out her music right here on Our City Radio Montreal's Urban station or on Youtube, Reverbnation, Soundcloud or Bandcamp.
We welcome Auresia to the Our City Radio Montreal family and we hope you enjoy her music!
Written by: Ariane Collman
Original article: http://montreal.ourcityradio.com/uncategorized/auresia
Shortlink: http://montreal.ourcityradio.com/?p=2224
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