Azere Wilson – The Roots
Her debut album goes deep into being a single mom, being lost, being black in a sea of white. So does this interview.
Azere Wilson and I have talked a few times about what it’s like to grow up multiracial in America. Azere wrote a song which could be an anthem for that complexity.
Azere: People typically don’t think about it when it doesn’t affect them directly. Growing up, I definitely knew I was being treated less than and othered because of my “race,” but oppression was my normal. I don’t think my family realized what it was like for me. Unknowingly putting me in uncomfortable situations etc. And yes, as a young child I was always the one up dancing and singing while all the other kids sat quietly on the rug.
I didn’t know my black family. For me, all the music that I was digging and still do dig deep into is Black music and Roots Music. Specifically, and I don’t even know if I realized it back when I first was doing it, all female Blues black blues musicians that I was listening to. Black female artists. It is my way of connecting to my roots, by digging deep into this Black music because I grew up knowing that I have this musical side to me.
My uncle was famous in the ’70s. I always knew that. Whenever he would come on the radio, my mom would say, “This is your uncle (Al Wilson.) My one connection to the black side of my family; that was it. But it was music and I knew that. So digging deep into Black music was my way of finding my connection to the Black side of my family and still is. Just finally feeling and walking in the skin and walking in the spaces that I walk in. I grew up all white town with the White side of my family. I didn’t grow up with people that I felt were like me; I always felt like I was just out, on the outside. I love my family and they love me, but there was something missing, something off, you know.
Girl of brown in an all-white town west of L.A. / the only one there with my kind of hair – I felt out of place
I finally did connect with some of my black family and I was like: “Oh, yeah, people who move like me! Oh my God, this makes so much sense!” I was just looking at them, and they’re passing out their CDs to each other, and they’re all hanging with music and dancing…just being around other other Black people and getting to know Black culture the more that I get to be around people like me – that all this other side of me that I didn’t know does exist. I have recently connected with my Black cousins through Facebook. My daughter found my cousin, who apparently when we were little, people would always say how much we look alike. That’s my uncle’s daughter. I got to meet my Uncle Eddie in person back in November. He just recently passed away. He also was a gospel singer and so he did this music with my uncle in the 70s, R&B and that kind of stuff, then shifted. He started doing gospel but he recorded several gospel albums. My cousin hosts a Sunday radio show. She did R&B music in the ’80s and and 90s. She shifted to the gospel as well.
So many secrets untold to that little girl / for my soul I had to go discover a whole new world
Now I work at teaching and there’s a large population of African American students at the school I’m at, and a lot of those kids are religious, too. I’m like, “Is there something I’m missing? I know that there are African spirituals. Those were a big deal and that is part of the part of my culture that I missed out on. I am definitely feeling that even more as of late, just this past year. I’ve also recently done this dive into Gospel tunes and spirituals, learning more about that music. Really feeling what comes out of me when I write and record – if you call it writing – is this music that just sounds spiritual. I know I am digging this because I feel like you should just go 100% on feel to start with and then later get into some of the research and figure out why the churches are so strong.
Recording this album gives me hope – how I get to be the light and lead by example for my children; how important it is to live your truth. Life is too short not to. So even when I feel like I suck and I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m lost, and unorganized and overwhelmed and sad and frustrated and my heart hurts and I feel lonely, the music still comes and I know I’m doing what I am supposed to do. I was born for this, and my life finally makes sense. I just wish I were better at the guitar already!
Continue this conversation here: Azere Wilson – The Lean on Me
Azere Wilson – The Roots
Her debut album goes deep into being a single mom, being lost, being black in a sea of white. So does this interview.