Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Miel Azevedo. Miel Azevedo (they/them), is a nonbinary artist and musician hailing from Toronto, and currently based in Montreal. Mostly self-taught, Miel recorded and produced their debut album, Beginnings, which was released in 2021. The songs have unexpected changes but mostly adhere to a pop song form with a jazz feel and a warm live band sound.
Miel‘s forthcoming EP, SOFT, departs from the limitations of song form, traversing genres and instrumentation in a unique sound that points forward and backward at the same time. SOFT is a leap in their voice as a producer as well as a composer as they were able to arrange and record orchestral arrangements for the first time.
Their magical new song, “Healing Tears,” is an expression of their journey in sexual healing and discovery. It came together with the support of two mentors: Kevin Breit (Canadian guitarist for Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson) and Dave Clark (original drummer for Rheostatics) who each provided guidance during songwriting.
Miel reimagined a queer erotic art project from 2020, to create the music video for this single. Gabriel Lapierre directs them and fellow artist Eddying Jackson to portray a soft queer embrace, a sensual play, and nurturing with room to grow.
Watch + share the official “Healing Tears” visuals:
tea – Mint and Lemonbalm
In the summertime my favorite thing is to pick herbs and make fresh tea. Perhaps slightly standard I love the classic mint and lemon common. Both plants are very resilient and grow easily and plentiful. It’s been a little while since I lived somewhere with a garden but at one point I lived at an eco village in the UK where every morning I could wander to the communal garden and pick whatever I fancied.
poem – Pirouette by Audre Lorde
PIROUETTE
“I saw your hands
on my lips blind needles
blunted from sewing up stone
where are you from
you said
your hands
reading over my lips
for some road through uncertain night
for your feet to examine home
where are you from
you said
your hands
on my lips like thunder
promising rainA land where all lovers are mute.
Why are you weeping
you said
your hands in my doorway
like rainbows
following rain
why are you weepingI have come home.”
Audre Lorde, 1957
This poem was hand written and mailed to me by a love who I cherish dearly. The poem sits on my altar. Audre Lorde is a powerful and important writer. I often remember parts of her life story, as her autobiography really moved me when I read it a few years ago. I hadn’t realized it at first but the poem complements my new single Healing Tears wonderfully.
song – the homeless wanderer by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
A great article about her life:
“The enigma of Emahoy Tsegué‑Maryam Guèbrou ፅጌ ማርያም ገብሩ”
“Publishing the pentatonic piano music of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, the maestro in the monastery whose biography is as extraordinary as her music…”
https://pan-african-music.com/en/the-enigma-of-emahoy-tsegue-maryam-guebrou/
Her music is incredible both soothing and riviting. Her life story is truly incredible, a story of resilience and devotion.
Tea + Me 