INTERVIEW: Eddie-Nominee Aila Chiar Previews Her Appearance at Tulip Festival
Photo by Nsync Media
“It was a really great feeling knowing that the mixtape and my craft in general is being recognized by the place I grew up. People are listening and watching and it’s really great.”
77 years running, Albany’s Tulip Festival is an undeniable local institution. Washington Park will be crowded for the full weekend as it has been every year. Even the most jaded among us gravitate towards the festival to enjoy food that’s definitely not good for you, a community that certainly is, and the best music the area has to offer. I’ve gone nearly every year since I was a child.
Aila Chiar, one of the best and absolute brightest among Albany’s hip-hop scene, hasn’t been yet, but she’s “so excited to finally get to see it! I know about the tulips and that’s about it.”
Aila is a young performer—she’s getting ready to graduate from SUNY New Paltz in the Fall, if everything goes to plan—but she’s developed a name quite quickly. Case and point: Aila was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Artist at the Eddies. Routine winner JB!! took it home, but Aila was happy to be in consideration.
“It was a really great feeling knowing that the mixtape and my craft in general is being recognized by the place I grew up. People are listening and watching and it’s really great.”
“I have an insane amount of music in the vault and that’s what I’m working towards,” Aila says of the immediate future. She’s been preparing to show off some of those new songs during her Tulip Fest set. “I’m trying to get myself ready to take it all in.”
The biggest difference Aila finds from the start of her journey to this set is that she’s “now singing in front of people instead of in my own room or in front of my family.” She has honed this craft more than many veteran performers, capturing attention from around the local sphere. Of her set at the festival, she says she hopes people take away a positive vibe and shows love to their mothers.
Aila’s own mother, also a performer, has been a huge influence on her daughter’s stage presence. With Tulip Fest falling close to Mother’s Day, Aila has a big surprise planned for her mother the day after. Her giddiness about the surprise shows her ever-present positivity clearly.
Still, an elephant in the room needs addressing: “The weather has been all over the place,” Aila says. With a flood warning looming, remember that Tulip Fest is a rain or shine event. So long as the weather isn’t dangerous, and every finger we have is crossed that it won’t be, the show will go on.
You can catch Aila on the 518 Stage at 3:30 on the 10th, one of a handful of performers at this year's festival. She’ll be joined by Amanda Case, Laveda, Zan & The Winter Folk, Jukebox the Ghost, and The 502s on Saturday; Lennox, Shannon Tehya & The Troupe, Buggy Jive, Let’s Get It On, The Alec Lewis Group, Boy Band Review, and Bendt will take over on Sunday.
And, as Aila always reminds us, do your affirmations!
For more information on this weekend’s Tulip Festival, visit https://www.albanyevents.org/events/albany-tulip-festival/
