Here at Tokyo Slice we try to feature a wide range of musicians. When it came to reviewing Ana Vigueras’s music, we got a unique look at an artist trying to carve out her own musical experiences in a place that she doesn't call home. Ana has been studying abroad in Japan at Temple University in Tokyo, and what makes her story interesting is how she has juggled both her studies and music while living in a foreign country.

 

Ana sings all kinds of music, basically whatever moves her. But her musical journey starts long before she started performing in Tokyo. “I’ve been singing since I was eight years old. That’s when I auditioned for my first choir,” said Ana, about her musical roots. She may have a background singing in choirs, but over the years she has cultivated a solo voice that is fitting for any cliche metaphor about angels and the like. A short one-minute clip of her singing ‘Turning Tables’ by Adele that she posted to her Instagram proves the point.  

 

In high school Ana studied music diligently, also becoming a well practiced trumpet player during this time. She stated, “Although I am much more of a vocalist than anything else, I played trumpet very seriously in my junior year of high school and I had plans to study music in college.” But her life to would end up down a different path. When given the chance to spend a few years in Japan, she abandoned her collegiate music plans for the opportunity to live abroad. Ana put it simply, “I was thinking, ‘oh should, I go to school in the states or should I go to Japan?’, in the end I decided to come here.”

 

The summer before Ana came to Japan, she learned Ukulele. Ana said, “I thought, ‘I need something portable to play with, so why not take my Ukulele to Japan”. With her Ukulele to accompany her voice, Ana began gracing many an open mic night in Tokyo. “There was an open mic night event in Roppongi at an art bar called The Pink Cow,” Ana recalled, “after I performed, the lady who owned the bar asked me to return regularly on their schedule. Each time I went to an open mic night, I got more and more connections that turned into other gigs.”

 

One of Ana’s proudest accomplishments while performing in Tokyo is how she turned her open mic connections into the chance to perform in some of Tokyo’s most famous Jazz Clubs. “Eventually I ended up meeting a Jazz singer through my Pink Cow open mics,” said Ana, “after that I was able to sing at a club called Ginza Cygnus and another called The Satin Doll, in Roppongi. The Satin Doll is extremely famous, even Sarah Vaughan has sang there before. I sang about 7 songs there in July 2016. I was like ‘WHAT!?, I get to sing here!.’ I was really happy that I got to do that.” Ana provided for Tokyo Slice a link to a YouTube video of her playing with a 5-piece Jazz ensemble at The Satin Doll. It is totally worth a listen for all music lovers.

 

Ana’s open mic connections have taken her far during her time as a student in Japan. She got the chance to record a demo in the personal studio of the husband of the famous Japanese R&B singer Kumi Koda. “I got to make two songs where I wrote my own lyrics during my time in that studio. These are the only songs that I’ve ever written. I normally do my own arrangements of famous songs. So that was pretty cool,” Ana noted with a smirk.

 

Ana started as an eight year old in the choir, then started accompanying herself on ukulele, and now, through sheer musical impressiveness, has been able to do full scale musical collaborations on the other side of the world.

 

Well, we at Tokyo Slice were impressed with Ana too. Here you can listen to her demo song, as well as watch her Jazz club performances. We’ve also linked to her Instagram so that fans can follow her and keep up with her live performances. If you’d like to hear a great voice during your time in this great city, consider checking out Ana Vigueras.