Melissa Laveaux

Orfevre des mots, Melissa Laveaux est une tres jeune artiste canadienne offrant un doigte de guitare fluide et syncope, avec les reflexes d’une bassiste. Ecrivant en Anglais, Français et Creole, elle scande ses poemes d’une voix cassee tres particuliere, gorgee de soul, dont le timbre peut rappeller celui de Macy Gray voire, par moment, celui de Rickie Lee Jones. Nee a Montreal de parents Haitiens, elle grandit sensibilisee au contexte de ses racines culturelles et se voit tres vite forcee de prendre conscience de l’ecart qui les separe de l’environnement canadien. Elle se forge donc un univers musical a racines diverses,des ballades creoles-calypsos de Martha Jean-Claude, au trip hop de Morcheeba et Skye Edwards, en passant par samba-rock bresilien de Adriana Calcanhotto.

Rob Reid, son complice rythmique l’accompagne en voyage musical eclectique pour y ajouter percussions indo-latines sur tabla classique nord-indienne et cajon peruvienne.

Le tout se marie pour produire un melange trilingue acoustique de folk, blues et de soul. Depuis la lancee de l’album autoproduit Camphor & Copper en 2006 Melissa fut invitee aux Halifax Pop Explosion, Canadian Music Week<, Festival international de Jazz de Montréal 2007 et sur les enregistrement live a diffusions nationales et provinciales de Radio Canada (CBC Radio) els que Go!, Bandwidth et Canada Live. Elle est laureate du prix Songs From the Heart pour la meilleure chanson "monde" du Ontario Council of Folk Festivals pour avoir compose'Koudlo' en 2006. Cet été, Laveaux s'inscrit comme plus jeune artiste au label parisien N0Format - aux côtés de Richard Bona et Gonzales (Feist, Mocky). Laveaux vient d'enregistrer une reprise de "Camphor & Copper" avec.Matthew Ker (Camille, Majiker) en France où elle compte retourner faire la tournée de soutien du disque. L'aventure a déjà débutée avec une mini-résidence musicale dans les petites salles de Paris, notamment le bijoux artistique Sénégalais qu'est le Jokko en plein quartier du Marais parisien. [tabby title="English"]Melissa Laveaux's lyrics are the work of a well-studied wordsmith. Musically her guitar-play fluidly syncopates percussive jazz notes and bass lines, combining cultural influences from kreyol-calypso folkloric ballads, early 90's trip hop, and Brazilian samba-rock. More common references lie somewhere between Macy Gray and Rickie Lee Jones. Melissa Laveaux is usually accompanied by long-time collaborator and percussionist Rob Reid (tabla, cajon), bassist Neil Gerster, and Ottawa's newest double-threat, songwriter Kyrie Kristmanson playing trumpet. Since releasing Camphor & Copper in 2006 Melissa has been featured at the Halifax Pop Explosion, Canadian Music Week, 2007 Montreal International Jazz Festival as well as on live recordings for CBC Radio's Go!, Bandwidth and Canada Live, and won an Ontario Council of Folk Festivals Songs From the Heart World music award for the song'Koudlo'. This summer, Laveaux has joined Parisian label "N0Format!" as the youngest talent on their roster, at the sides of fellow Canadian Gonzales (Feist, Broken Social Scene). Laveaux has been recording a new version of Camphor & Copper produced by Majiker (Matthew Kerr, Camille), with the label and is being booked for a 2008 European promotional tour. Her first foray into the Parisian market this summer saw her play residencies at small venues, notably the Senegalese art gem "Jokko" at the heart of the Marais neighbourhood.

Born in Montreal to a proud Haitian family, Laveaux grew up conscious of the context of her cultural roots while moving around South-eastern Ontario before settling in Ottawa. She also grew up to the sounds of Martha Jean-Claudes kreyol calypso ballads, Morcheeba’s down-tempo electronic soul, and whatever samba and bossa nova (Adriana Calcanhotto) she could afford to get her hands on.

In 2006 Melissa self-produced and released her first full-length album Camphor & Copper, and was the recipient of the Ontario Council of Folk Festival’s Songs From the Heart Award in the World Music category for the kreyol song « Koudlo ».

Accompanist Rob Reid has given Melissa invaluable insight that has extended her musical vision to other continents. Speaking with the dead skins of the tabla and the wooden voice of the Latin cajon, Rob provides the steady subtle balance to her intricate fingerpicking as well as a critical voice to her ideas. Rob’s work and continued study of Classical Indian tabla, his playing of the cajon (the box), and other improvised percussions provides an animated musical dialogue with Laveaux’s throaty vocals and percussive guitar-play in live performance.

This music is drawn from a deep and intimate knowledge of the global musical milieu, a bilingual raw mix of acoustic soul/jazz and percussive kreyol folklore. A fresh offering to the folk music scene, it is folk that has bedded and bled with other genres.