It wasn’t until Awna Teixeira was 27 years old that she discovered musicality runs in her family.
While visiting her grandparents in Toronto, the singer-songwriter pulled out her ukelele, only to have her grandfather profess, “I used to play one of those!”
“And then he just started strumming and singing in Portuguese and all my uncles were singing. I never even knew he could do that. That’s when I started learning about the musical history in my family.
“When my grandfather immigrated [to Canada] with his kids, he left his music behind. He used to play and write and play harmonica and guitar and ukelele in Portugal, but when he came to Canada, I guess like a lot of immigrants, they don’t have the time or the energy or the community, so he stopped playing.”
Teixeira’s Portuguese ancestry is evident in her music, whether it’s her accordion playing or her passion, it seeps into her folk melodies.
“I think that’s helped my song writing immensely,” she said, noting Portuguese are known for being emotive, passionate people, both in their music and in their culture.
Teixeira has been playing music since she was 20, picking it up late in life, compared to most established musicians. She was 27 when she joined Canadian urban roots band Po’ Girl, which took her around the world. She spent 10 years with the band, touring and writing music with Allison Russell.
It was 2013 when Teixeira started her solo career, releasing her debut solo album Where the Darkness Goes, which showcases the numerous instruments Teixeira plays, from the accordion to the banjo, gutbucket bass and ukelele.
In March, she released her second solo album, Wild One. She described it as being a more cohesive composition than any of her previous works.
“In Po’ Girl there were multiple writers, it was hard to have things cohesive sonically all the time. That was one of our biggest challenges, trying to mesh all the different styles together.
“This album is a lot more cohesive with the feel.
“I wrote a lot of it in Utah, kind of in a time when I was doing a lot of self reflection. I think it’s probably my most personal album to date and I think it’s the most thematic album I’ve ever written.”
Teixeira received a Canada Arts Council grant to record Wild One, so she returned to her hometown of Toronto and selected a place close to her heart to lay down some tracks.
“I recorded it in Kensington Market, which is a neighbourhood that my family immigrated to from Portugal, so it felt like I was really going full circle and returning to my roots.”
Teixeira will be performing solo at the Olive Bistro and Lounge Aug. 28. Of all her instruments, she’s bringing her banjo, accordion, guitar, tambourine and an old suitcase that she’s turned into a kick drum.
Nicole Veerman
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