It’s become a cliché to say, but for talented singer/songwriter Annie Sumi, it truly is amazing what a change of scenery can do for one’s life, one’s attitude, and one’s creative output.
The 21-year-old Whitby native moved from her hometown, deep in the heart of ‘suburbia,’ to take an English degree at Nipissing University in North Bay in her late teens and found the setting to not only be nurturing academically, but also spiritually and creatively.
The result was that while earning her Bachelor of Arts, Sumi began to turn her passion for music into a vocation, becoming a fixture on the burgeoning local music scene and eventually writing and recording what would become her first album, Reflections, which was released in April of 2015.
She subsequently embarked on a significant tour over the summer, honing her already mesmerizing and evocative stage performances, which Sumi will be bringing to Napanee for the first time, as she performs a solo show in the latest Starstop Concerts house concert presentation, on Thursday, Jan. 28 at Ellena’s Café.
“I like to say that I really found my voice when I moved to North Bay. I was kind of introduced to the landscape and the beautiful earth that we live on in such a powerful and profound way. Growing up in Whitby there is nature not far away, but it’s more remote, more spacious and fresh in the area around North Bay. I think that experience brought out a part of me that was just kind of longing to be awakened. And from there, music kind of took over me,” she told www.musiclifemagazine.net from Whitby where she has temporarily relocated.
“It was great studying there and being in such a great learning environment inside and outside of the classroom. Once I decided to get more serious about music I was really welcomed by all the music community up there. There’s an amazing scene for all sorts of visual art and music and it’s a really tight-knit group of people who are working hard to promote not just themselves but one another.
“So very quickly after falling in love with the expanse of nature up there and the school and the people I decided that music was going to come to the fore for me.”
Reflections was a critical smash, garnering airplay at radio stations across the country, and being named a CBC Radio ‘Pick of the Month’ for July 2015 and earning praise from CBC host George Stromboulopoulos who said that he was “in love with this voice.”
The acclaim and attention prompted Sumi to book as many dates as she could through eastern Canada, playing throughout Ontario and out as far east as Prince Edward Island. She found the experience of being a professional independent touring and recording artists as illuminating as anything that took place in the classrooms at Nipissing or through the many sojourns in the dense forests of the Near North. All of which has informed her latest songwriting sessions.
“It’s funny, but whatever you create can become very old very quickly. I had those songs on Reflections for maybe two years before I actually recorded them. Now I am transitioning into a new chapter, musically, which is exciting. But I also have to remember that I just released an album and those songs are still relevant to people who have been playing for and the people I have yet to play for, like the folks in Napanee,” Sumi explained.
“A lot of writing can come from an entire year’s worth of experiences and meeting different people and hearing different stories. I think that’s just part of learning about yourself too. We’re always changing and growing. I think I am moving towards meeting new people to play with who are always inspiring my direction creatively. And it’s important as an artist and as a human being to always be moving forward. It’s happening to me organically in the sense that I am growing as a person and so is my music. The songs that I am writing now are ways I can share parts of me that have been, and continue to be growing.”
Sumi said that she is thrilled to be coming to Napanee because she grew up listening to local musical hero Avril Lavigne.
“She was a big deal to me. I carried her CDs around all the time and played them on my portable CD player. Also very early on
Norah Jones was important too. She was one of my first female inspirations, and then there was Sarah McLachlan and {Kingston resident} Sarah Harmer. Carole King’s Tapestry album was a huge record for me and I also listened to a lot of older folk music like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan – artists who were poets as well as musicians. I love people who can put beautiful words to music,” she said, adding that she seems to gravitate toward songwriters with a significant social justice impetus behind their art.
“For my own writing, I think a lot of what I have written about in the past and even still a lot to this day is just about the human struggle. There are common things that connect everybody, whether it’s dealing with the loss of a loved one, or introspective self-criticisms and coming to terms with yourself. I think Reflections featured a lot of material where I saw myself in the reflections of others people.
“It’s like where I’m walking through streets and recognizing that all the strangers that I see are going through this common thing called life, and that’s okay. I think a lot of my music is meant to be inspirational to people – to help them through those times with an affirmation that it will be okay.”
Sumi said her songwriting process does not follow any particular formula, but that the creations that are the most precious to her seem to come from an almost otherworldly source.
“Generally, the songs come together in a lot of different ways, depending on the song. Whether I am sitting at the piano or holding my guitar or just sitting with a pen and paper, some of my best pieces have just been completely transient – they kind of flow through me like I am some sort of conduit, and usually they are the ones that I cherish the most,” she said.
“I also had the privilege of taking a really great writing course in university and I learned that writing may be a gift for some people but it’s also a skill and a craft that needs to be practiced. You need to dedicate time every day to just sit down and write. It may all be garbage, but you can come back to those things and maybe salvage a line or two, because it’s all part of a broader process.
“A lot of the artists that I have been mentored by have also taken on this dedication to their art as a craft and being disciplined at honing their skills and putting time aside to practise their instrument or practise their writing. I have been really loving Sarah Harmer’s work and I know that her level of writing really comes from that sort of practise and discipline.”
There is precociousness to Sumi because of her youth that rapidly evaporates once one begins speaking with her. There is a wisdom to her words, to her songs and to her philosophy of life that people sometimes never grasp even if they live to be 100. It’s a gift, and one that seems to have been sparked by an unlikely source, considering her suburban 21st century Ontario upbringing.
“Martin Luther King Jr. was a huge inspiration for me when I was really young. I think it was Grade 1 the first time I heard the famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech during Black History Month I believe. There was no video, just an audio recording of it. I remember vividly, even at that age, of just listening to this man speak and being so moved by his passion and the words and the way the words were put together and the different phrasings. It was just so melodic to me,” she explained.
“It was so powerful hearing him speaking about something he was so obviously passionate about. Since then, the phrasing of words and the passion of the purpose behind those words have been very moving for me. I really love listening to speeches and spoken word performances and slam poetry. Some of it is incredible and still so very musical. It was an interesting catalyst for the way I looked at music. So since then, around the age of seven, that’s when I started studying music and started to learn about rhythm and melody too.
“I think to this day the passion in people’s music is what stirs my soul more than anything. I might not even love the voice or the instrumentation of the song, but when I watch live music and feel the passion, that always hits me and it always makes whatever I am seeing that much better. I do have a great appreciation for the recording and production of music, but live music is what really does it for me. If you’ve sold me on your live show, then you’ve got a fan for life.”
Sumi said she is also looking forward to her show in Napanee because it’s a small, intimate venue, filled with people who want to hear music.
“I really love connection. I love being able to actually see the eyes and expression of the audience. I feel like I am sharing something with them, so that’s what I love to do. I want to feel the space because every night it’s going to be different.”
Sumi is also embarking on a more collaborative creative enterprise over the next year. Besides continuing to write music and perform solo show, she has joined a group called the Hidden Roots Collective, alongside fellow singer/songwriters Brigitte Lebel, Rose-Erin Stokes and Holly Cunningham and based out of the GTA.
“We’re working on releasing an album this year and then the year after I hope to put out another solo album. The group is another avenue of expression for all of us. It just feels really good to harmonize with people and to collaborate with people. And in this format it’s less about me as one person and more of a group effort. We’re putting our own songs together to promote our own individual music, but also creating original songs as a group, so it promotes both the individual and the collective, which is nice,” she said.
For more information on Sumi’s solo show in Napanee on Jan. 28, visit http://www.starstop.ca/#!annie-sumi/zi5ou
For more information on Sumi and her music, visit her Facebook page or her website: http://anniesumi.com
* Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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Very interesting article about an exciting young artist.