Anaís Azul | Singer/Songwriter, Teaching Artist, Herbalist
With Covid 19 there isn’t much room for serendipity. Until there is. I was already on the west coast when I received an email blast from Anaís Azul whom I knew when they had lived in Boston. Relocating to Berkeley, CA in January of 2020 Anaís was getting ready to drop their latest single, Mi Piel (My Skin). With both of us comfortable getting together IRL, we were able to connect in San Francisco for a wonderful hour-long masked conversation.
Anaís doesn’t fit neatly into any one art form. Talking and working with hundreds of artists, innovators and entrepreneurs over these past years – I have found it’s those who overflow the buckets of conformity and creativity that are blossoming during these tricky times of Covid and social unrest. A Peruvian/American who straddles artistic borders as a singer, songwriter, composer, teaching artist and herbalist Anaís has just started a MFA program at the California Institute of the Arts.
With two visual artists as parents Anaís spent many hours of their childhood growing up in the Red Poppy Art House, a collective/collaborative art center where there was always a piano. Their parents instilled their love of bartering by swapping art for piano lessons for Anaís instilling a long awareness and love of exchanging products among artists, activists and others. As a newly trained herbalist when Covid19 combined with anti-racism unrests converged during the early summer of 2020, Anaís was confronted with the question, “what is my role in the uprising?” Anaís turned to their newly acquired skills in herbal medicine to make and distribute both Fire Cider and Elderberry syrups designed to support black and indigenous POC’s immune support systems. Distributing the tinctures at the Freedom Clinics in Oakland they are packaged with the intentions of both Strength and Endurance.
During this time Anaís was also tapped by the small local business community, Commotion of West Berkeley, to curate music as a tool for collective healing and community building. Given their work in Boston with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics curating an event series Stories from the Garden for a community garden in East Boston, Anaís knew this work. The series is entitled Songs While You Wait and is a popup concert series embracing East Bay based POC artists to perform for lines that have formed during the pandemic in front of such places as the Berkeley Patient Group and Acme Bread.
And then there is their own incredible, thoughtful, transporting music. Mi Piel is the single of their debut EP slated to come out next spring. This concept album reflects on the many views of ourselves and validates the transformational process. As Anaís explained, “We all have these pieces that are parts of who we are. They are not less on their own but they help to make us whole. We need to cherish the growth we collectively are reaching towards. We are all struggling with mental health issues and I am putting my music out into the world as an example of radical vulnerability to connect with others to combat loneliness and encourage collective healing”. Another way Anaís is engaging with their audience is by creating a community though their IG page posing different questions each day that resonate with people so they can connect and share stories.
For more information on Anaís and to join their healing community through the arts check out: