Amanda Martinez’s latest album, Recuerdo (Memory), is a musical tribute to her late father, Gustavo, who famously bicycled from Mexico to Toronto with his brother, Arturo, in 1956, and a poignant reflection on memory and nostalgia. Not long after its release, she heard the Art Gallery of Ontario was planning its first-ever exhibition of Latin American photography, also coincidentally called Recuerdo, and referencing photographic work by her uncle Arturo.
“There were so many synchronicities,” says Martinez, who contacted the gallery to see if they wanted to carry her album – and ended up playing the exhibition opening in May of 2025. “My dad used to take me to the AGO when I was little, and he gave me my love of art and music. He had broad taste in music: classical, jazz, Latin American folk, bossa nova, salsa. And when everyone else was listening to pop on the radio, I was listening to my dad’s record collection.”
Select the image to access a behind-the-scenes YouTube video of the Amanda Martinez album release for Recuerdo
While she has developed those influences and more into her own brand of Latin folk-soul, Martinez’s path to becoming an internationally renowned singer-songwriter wasn’t exactly direct. Her childhood dream was to be a ballerina, and she loved to sing and perform in musical theatre, but she wasn’t sure she had what it takes to make a living in the arts. So, she got a degree in biology, then an international MBA, worked in merchandising and finance, and thought of music as a hobby. But she couldn’t lose the performing bug. “I thought I’d be a marketing manager because they were the ones who stood up and made the presentations, and I wanted to be onstage,” she says with a laugh.
Eventually, someone who heard her sing asked why she was not honouring such a remarkable gift. And when she finally decided to go for it, success came. She’s now made five acclaimed albums, sold out Canadian and international venues, performed at the World Cup in South Africa, the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, and the Dubai Jazz Festival, and was named Best World Music Artist by the Toronto Independent Music Awards and Composer of the Year at the Latin Awards Canada.
Martinez is also an actor. Ironically, it was a voice acting gig as a Mexican grandmother in the animated children’s TV show Rosie’s Rules (broadcast on both PBS and TVO Kids) that honed her songwriting skills for Recuerdo. “It took me a long time to call myself a songwriter,” she says. “Once I get into the process, I love it, but I’m very self-critical. Working on Rosie’s Rules was really helpful in building my confidence.”
Wanting an authentic Mexican voice, the producers asked Martinez to provide ideas to composer Ari Posner, but her role soon grew. “There was a new song created for every episode, and when Ari was busy he asked if I wanted to write on my own,” she says. “I worked with Drew [her husband, bassist/producer Drew Birston], who’d record my ideas with different instrumentation, and that really strengthened that muscle as a songwriter. Of course, writing for a kids’ show is different from my own music, but it was a good exercise, and I started enjoying the process more.”
Select the image to access the YouTube video of an episode of Rosie’s Rules featuring Amanda Martinez
For Martinez, being able to rely on the same collaborators for 20 years – co-producers Birston, and guitarist and co-writer Kevin Laliberté, percussionist Chendy Leon, trumpeter Alexander Brown, and violinist Osvaldo Rodriguez – is key. “Music is such a deep, soulful, vulnerable thing for me, and I want to work with people I trust, with the feeling that we have each other’s backs,” she says. “I think the reason people like our performances is that we enjoy being onstage and working off each other, and the audience feels that. And for composing, there also has to be that comfort level.”
Her writing process is collaborative. “I’ll use a guitar to get the basic song structure, and send it to Kevin or Drew, or sometimes we’ll start from scratch together,” she says. “Melodies come easily for me, but the arrangements and harmonies are all Kevin and Drew. And I don’t tell the musicians what to play – they’re masters, and always have amazing ideas to shape the song.”
While she feels more comfortable singing in Spanish, one song, “Release Me,” was written in English, with help from R&B singer Kellylee Evans. “My dad said, ‘Why are you only writing in Spanish? You should broaden your horizons.’ So, I wanted to write in English, but I was self-conscious and got stuck,” she says. “I sent it to Kellylee, and when she sang it back to me I loved it. Her tweaks made the song more powerful, and helped convey what I was trying to say.”
Martinez co-wrote “No te Vayas” (“Don’t Go”) with singer-songwriter Aviva Chernick, who adds lyrics in Hebrew. “We were both losing our dads – Aviva’s to Alzheimer’s and mine to dementia – and they were big influences on our lives,” she says. “It’s a sad one, but Recuerdo means remember, and when I think of my dad there are such strong, positive memories. He’d get excited about introducing me to music, and art, and cooking, and travel, and these things are still with me, every day.”