Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aireene Espiritu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aireene, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful project is called A Color-Coded Symphony, a musical experience that aims to nurture intercultural openness and explore how we are connected to the rest of the world. It debuted for the first time at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, 2017.

From my experience of racism, I’ve always had this idea of having a concert in the dark, where the audience sets aside their judgments based on looks and just “listen”. I happen to just bring it up as part of a conversation with the educator for programs at the Asian Art Museum after performing there and was offered the opportunity to make it a reality. The idea evolved into a three part performance piece, first in the dark, playing familiar and unfamiliar sounds in the dark, while the audience is given the option to wear bandanas, then when the lights are back on, present a featured country/artist performing their traditional music. The third part involves the audience writing their ethnic origin on a card and placing in a jar to be randomly pulled from. A 30 second audio of rhythm/sounds from that country/region is played if picked and then the 10 piece band takes over, improvising a new musical piece inspired by those 30 seconds. The background screen projects a map of regions of the world and that region from which the ethnic origin card is picked is then highlighted on screen. The goal is to create new sounds based on the audience’s roots music, a play on our interconnectedness, and hope to tip the scale of judgments based on race.

We were only able to do two performances, one with Philippines and India as the featured country, until the pandemic hit. I then pivoted to online interviews, podcasts and working on more presentations and projects while keeping to the original concept. My hope is to encourage curiosity towards cultures and more openness. Beyond performing and writing songs, this has been most meaningful to me and aligns with my purpose in this life.

Aireene, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Over 10 years ago, I went through a lot of changes all at the same time, a breakup, moved out of our apartment, got laid off my day job. I decided to play music until I couldn’t do it anymore. I was home free for 9 years, focused on music, toured across the country and in Europe. It wasn’t always easy and there were a lot of challenges, but every time I worry and wonder how I will make it through, whether it’s financial, or a roof over my head, the universe has always delivered a way to help keep me going in this creative path. I wake up grateful everyday for my experiences, each building upon more meaningful journeys.

In 2016, I was added to the roster of artists under Little Village Foundation, a non-profit label founded by venerable blues keyboardist Jim Pugh (Robert Cray, Etta James, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker) and released a part tribute to Rhythm & Blues artist, Sugar Pie DeSanto and part Filipino and American folk songs. The album has received positive recognition and reviews from KQED’s The California Report, San Francisco Chronicle, Living Blues and No Depression magazines. This led to performing at various festivals and venues which led to an opportunity to present my idea of a project, A Color-Coded Symphony, whose aim is to encourage curiosity towards cultures and tip the scale of racism towards more openness. My latest efforts have been to create spaces spotlighting Asian-American artists in the folk music industry and grow our community.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal/mission has evolved from just being an artist to using my music and others artists’ talents to collectively create community while breaking down the barriers to racism. Sometimes the efforts take one show at a time, one conversation at a time, one gas stop at a time. Whatever fears, worries I have along the way, I feel that I have to keep showing up, to represent others like me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I mentioned in a previous question about losing my day job, a break up and moving out of my home within a few months of each other, over 10 years ago. Losing all those things in the same window of time gave me the opportunity to focus on what’s most important to me which is music. I never dreamed I could do it full-time. I decided to dedicate my time on my music and with that mindset everything else fell into place as if the path was made for me as I kept doing the work. The journey over the years have been a wealth of experiences, richer than the bank.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aireeneespiritu.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/aireenee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aireenemusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aireenee/featured
• Other: Color-Coded Symphony website: https://www.colorcodedsymphony.com/ Color-Coded Symphony YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXz7FDS1jzqd-311tbiy8CHjH2lGX8t6n

Image Credits
Photos by Bob Hakins, Ron Espiritu