Name: Ane Diaz
Nationality: Venezuelan
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Current release: Ane Diaz's debut album Despechada is out June 9th via LaunchLeft.

If you enjoyed this Ane Diaz interview and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, and Soundcloud.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

When it comes to the creation of this last project, the inspiration came from the pain and sadness surrounding the loss of my country Venezuela to a dictatorship, and more recently, to witnessing the threat to democracy all over the world. It has all shown me the common thread and the powerful kinship I feel for everyone who has lost their sense of cultural identity, due to colonization, slavery, bigotry, classism and fear for anything that seems ‘other’.

The song ‘El Colibri’ speaks of that anguish.

Seeing something you love being taken away from you and the many lives sacrificed for standing up to criminal, despotic, inhumane chaos … the song is about a hummingbird watching a flower fall into the river current, and in trying to rescue it, both perish ... none-the-less, the love and courage of the bird, is always what we all aspire to.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

The uniqueness of this album comes from the fact that I have been singing these songs all my life, but just not in Venezuela, since I moved to the USA in the 1980s. Because of that, my interpretations are untraditional, played with untraditional instruments. They are more like homages to the original songs, not replications.

These songs are the first songs I ever heard as a child. They are the reason I am a musician. The first time I heard 'Pueblos Tristes’ I was nine years old and the imagery was so powerful, so honest. It was not about love, it was about life, and I understood how these songs were not only beautiful songs, but oral history, a way to pass on to the next generation a tradition of a people, our people. They are our folklore.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Absolutely. I wanted to be sure to have as many regions of the country represented.

But the real research was siting down with my mother, now 89, and reminiscing about our favorite songs, the lyrics, the melodies, the Venezuelan idioms, names of trees, animals, etc.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

1. Night time
2. My cuatro, (our national four string guitar) my dear friend, Michael Mcdearis made me the most beautiful one with his bare hands. It is absolutely perfect!
3. Solitude
4. Candles
5. Irish whisky
6. Palo santo incense

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I start by listening for the melodies in my head ... how I remember these songs, playing them as simple as possible on my cuatro and that is what I shared with Jim White and Paul Fonfara.

They never listened to the original songs, only my versions of them.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

There are so many beautiful songs in our folklore, but this album was not about that. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to be happy about. We chose these songs because of the lyrics illustrate the struggle of the Venezuelan people, where ever we may be.

My family in Venezuela doesn’t have enough food, are constantly concerned for their safety, they are living in fear of the future for themselves and their children every day.

It is a good thing Venezuelans are so resourceful and have a wonderful sense of humor. How else could they survive the betrayal by the system that is supposed to help them grow.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

A good story with lush imagery and air, told from the bottom of your heart, with an honest voice.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

The specific purpose of this record was to be led away from the traditional song. It is all about my delivery. I want to honor the authors, the song, the words.

Often while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

I have a motto ... “let’s mess it up.”

I like to play songs in all different ways before I settle on the one I like, especially after I like a version of the song. I have to be sure that I have explored all possible directions, and sometimes I keep some of the “mess up” ... if not the whole thing.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I am sure you have heard this before from many musicians… music and singing for me come from another dimension, I don’t know from where ...

When I perform, I go places far away from where I am standing ... and when the music is over, I come back to earth … I don’t know where I have been, but I love it ...

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

I am still as old school as you can get. The song ‘Clavelito Colorado’, for example, we used the rehearsal track, it just had the right feeling.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice?

The song itself is always changing. Every time you play it, hear it, sing it … it is never the same. But when I record, I have to say, ‘this is the one’! Even though I know there is no such thing …

So I drive a lot, take notes, and do my best to honor the song with an honest performance.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

I was very specific as to the kind of person I wanted to produce this record with me ... and I found him, Jim White! Which lead to finding Paul Fonfara and John Keane as well as the amazing players. It was like a dream. I couldn’t possibly have been in better hands.

I definitely get involved. Something that became really important to me was the need to have my mother listen and enjoy the recording.

After finishing a piece or album, and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

There is an emotional and physical exhaustion. I stop listening to it immediately after I am done.  Just like when you breath there is moment after you exhale, where there is nothing … and then … on its own will, you inhale.

This is very similar to my state of creativity … after I am done, and some time has passed, it is ‘creativity'  that comes back knocking - and the process begins again.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

When you make that which you love, regardless of what it is - coffee or a gorgeous loaf of bread, metal music or a ballad, there is always a level of caring, tenderness.

But, what I express through music  that is different from the rest, is that which is ‘my’ true passion, ‘my bliss’, as Joseph Campbell would call it, making it a safe playground to be vulnerable,  take chances, and therefore, be free to express.