Ana Miura

"Easily one of the best, most haunting, confident voices I've heard in music today. Ana is the type of songwriter whose lyrics and melodies result in special moments unequalled by most."

Mauler - Ottawa's #1 Hit Music Station - The New HOT 89-9 - (quote)

Ottawa Xpress Weekly Newspaper Thursday May 19th, 2005 - Matthew Harrison

"...someone whose stubborn presence among the rising group of Canadian alt-country/folk musicians shouldn't be under-estimated."
- Ottawa Xpress

* Winner of the 2006 Songs from the Heart Award - Galaxie Rising Star Award for He Swallows Whiskey


October 12 / 2006


OTTAWA SINGER/SONGWRITER ANA MIURA WINS NATIONALLY RENOWN SONGWRITING AWARD


Upon return from her USA/Canada tour, Ana Miura was named the winner of the 2006 Songs from the Heart Songwriter Award. Miura will receive a Galaxie Rising Star Award of $1,000 for her song He Swallows Whiskey as well as an invitation to showcase at the OCFF conference in Ottawa, October 12-15 at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Miura’s song was chosen from over 500 entrants through a blind judging system. The judging panel was comprised of 11 respected members of the musical community, including Ron Nigrini, Liz Scott, Alex Sinclair, Michel Dozois, Mike Barker, Steve Fruitman, Richard Knechtal, Eric Stein, Philly Markowitz, Chris White and Mike Ford. In its 12th year, the annual award’s past recipients include many mainstays of folk music community: Terry Tufts, Melwood Cutlery, and Jory Nash.

Miura continues pre-production on her sophomore record, tentatively titled The Grace of
the People, as well as touring dates through the USA and Canada.

For further information or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Ana Miura
Tel: (613) 864-0516
Email: contact@anamiura.com
Site: www.anamiura.com
- OCFF/ Galaxie Rising Star

November 14th, 2006

Item: Letter of Support of Songwriter ANA MIURA

Greetings, fair reader! My name is Jory Nash; I am an award-winning, Toronto-based independent singer-songwriter with 5 CDs under my belt . I am also a recently retired board member of both the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals and The ArtsCan Circle. I currently administer the OCFF Songs From The Heart (SFTH) songwriting contest, which is sponsored by CBC Galaxie Folk/Roots.

The SFTH attracts about 500 submissions each year from songwriters all across Ontario. The caliber of entries is wonderfully high, and to be chosen winner of the contest is considered high acclaim among Ontario songwriters. The winner of the 2006 Overall English Award (there is also an Overall French winner) was a young woman named ANA MIURA. I have long been a fan of Ana’s music, and couldn’t have been happier when this year’s judges chose her song He Swallows Whiskey over all other entries.

Ana’s music is melodically driven, complex in arrangement yet entirely accessible. Her melodies are strong, hummable and instantly likeable. She also demonstrates a growing presence as a performer. As part of the SFTH awards, each winner is invited to perform their song to a crowd of Artistic Directors, artists, journalists, etc. I watched Ana command the room and strike a delicate balance between performing artistry and introspection. Were I a booker I would strongly consider hiring Ana for my festival or concert series.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via e-mail at: jory@jorynash.com

Cheers!
Jory Nash
SFTH Administrator
- Reference Letter

Bruce Cockburn, Joel Plaskett and Steven Page, three of the Ottawa Folk Festival's marquee performers, shared a tiny outdoor stage with Ottawa singer-songwriter Ana Miura on Sunday afternoon.

Under blues skies, a crowd of about 1,000 sprawled out on the grassy riverside to see Cockburn, a Canadian folk legend and Ottawa native, trade songs with Miura and singer-songwriters Page and Plaskett. The three are musical representatives of a generation of Canadians who grew up with Cockburn's music.

The session was titled Road Songs and each artist plucked, from his or her repertoire, a song about travelling, revealing various viewpoints. One of Cockburn's contributions was a powerful version of Mines of Mozambique, based on a trip he took to the war-torn country, but then Page followed it up with Helicopters, which pokes fun at rock stars who visit war-torn countries. No malice was directed at Bruce, Page noted, the real problem is how the media simplifies the story.

"Can you imagine what it's like to see your picture on the front page of the paper for something personal?" he added, referring to his drug bust in Syracuse, New York in 2008. With all the problems in the world, it made him wonder why there wasn't anything more newsworthy to publish than his puffy mug shot.

Like most musicians, Nova Scotia-born Plaskett had plenty of material that fit the road theme, but he chose Rewind Rewind Rewind partly because he could relate to the chorus: "It's taking too long to get there" was going through his mind for nearly two days while he was delayed at LaGuardia airport trying to catch a flight to Ottawa.

Cockburn, Plaskett and Page were fantastic in this intimate setting, but Miura provided the charm that made it special. With her sweet smile and bubbly demeanour, the young mom put everyone at ease, breaking up the testosterone levels with delicate songs that delivered a frank feminine perspective. The highlight was Miura's Little Boy, a lilting lullaby inspired by her son, played on a homemade ukulele (just like the ones that were being made at the festival over the weekend).

Backstage, Miura declared the gig to be "the biggest moment of my life so far, for sure. These are some of the people whose songs I would play when I was starting out and to share a stage with them is just out of this world," she said.

It was the high point of a busy weekend for Miura, who also co-ordinated the festival's gardening displays and was one of the rookie emcees on the main stage during the evening concerts. She did a terrific job, and is emerging as a fresh new face for the festival, a multi-talented hostess of a lively community event.

Behind the scenes, another young woman has been working for months to make sure the festival breaks even.

The cutbacks have been savage, according to Tatiana Nemchin, the yoga instructor who took on a paid position this year as the festival's director of planning and operations. After last year's cost overruns, her job was to make sure everyone stuck to the $500,000 festival budget.

"I was just totally constantly monitoring the various budgets, and being creative," Nemchin said in an interview. "We don't have the money to do it, how can we be creative?"

Among the solutions the team came up with included finding a sponsor to help bring Joel Plaskett to the festival, enlisting local restaurants to feed volunteers, and borrowing a vintage Airstream trailer to use as the festival's on-site control office.

There were two fewer stages in operation this year, but that seemed to streamline the site, allowing for a steady flow of music fans between the Dance Tent and the Main Stage, with stops at the Point stage and Hill stage along the way.

A fifth stage was located inside the Ron Kolbus Centre.

To the festival's credit, few signs of cost-cutting were evident to patrons.

Though final attendance figures were not immediately available, the crowds were strong, with Cockburn attracting more than 5,000 people on Saturday night. Early indications are that Nemchim and the Folkfest team have accomplished the goal of sticking to the budget, while artistic director Chris White put together a lineup that pulled in the crowds.

The festival's water-bottle ban was also considered a success. Stainless-steel bottles were widely available, and close to 1,000 gallons of water were dispensed at the so-called hydration stations.

According to water-station attendants, more than 7,000 plastic bottles were diverted from landfill sites. - Ottawa citizen. August 24/09