Cecile McLorin Salvant – Mlusine [CD]

Nonesuch Records releases Ccile McLorin SalvantsMlusine on CD March 24, 2023 and LP on May 19, 2023. Mlusine features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyol.

The new albums songs tell the story of the European folkloric legend of Mlusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday as a result of a childhood curse by her mother. Mlusine later agrees to marry Raymondin on the condition that he never see her on Saturdays. He agrees but is ultimately convinced by his brother to break his promise, piercing his wifes door with his sword and finding her naked in the bath, half snake, half woman. When she catches him spying on her, she turns into a dragon and flies out the window, only to reappear every time one of her descendants is on their deathbed.

Salvant, whose parents are French and Haitian, saysMlusine is also partly about that feeling of being a hybrid, a mixture of different cultures, which Ive experienced not only as the American-born child of two first generation immigrants, but as someone raised in a family that is racially mixed, from several different countries, with different languages spoken in the home.

Tracklist:

1. Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent?
2. La route enchante
3. Il ma vue nue
4. Dites moi que je suis belle
5. Doudou
6. Petite musique terrienne
7. Aida
8. Mlusine
9. Wedo
10. Dun feu secret
11. Le temps est assassin
12. Fenestra
13. Domna N’Almucs
14. Dame Iseut

UPC: 075597906400
Label: Nonesuch
Release Date: 3.24.23
Format: CD