Artist Spotlights: Mélissa Laveaux Revives Haitian Folk Classics
Quebec singer-songwriter Mélissa Laveaux interlaces Haitian folk and blues with insightful songwriting and masterful guitar work.
Artist Spotlights introduces you to artists that may not be on your radar yet, but should be. With recently cancelled tours and income loss for small artists, there’s no time like the present to find new talent to support.
Written by C.S. Harper
Photo courtesy of Agence-France Presse
Recommended If You Like: Frantz Casseus, Martha Jean-Claude, Odetta
“Men with sh-thole mouths / Need to go back home to their mamas / Keep Haïti out of your mouth (unless it’s to talk about reparations for the occupation…),” Mélissa Laveaux bitingly calls out Donald Trump on his offensive comments about her ancestral Haiti. These lyrics from Laveaux’s 2018 reinterpretation of folk singer Auguste de Pradine’s “Angeli-ko” perfectly capture the essence of her music. Complementing her witty lyrics with a fusion of blues, Haitian folk, and rock music, Laveaux celebrates her heritage with uncompromising pride.
For over ten years, Laveaux has been perfecting her idiosyncratic artistic vision. After releasing her 2008 debut Camphor & Copper and her sophomore album Dying is a Wild Night in 2016, she rose to prominence in 2018 with Radyo siwèl. This record received positive critical acclaim and a Polaris Music Prize nomination, launching her to success. By 2019, she had gained 2 million Spotify streams and attention from major publications CBC Radio and The Guardian.
In Radyo siwèl, Laveaux fully embraces her heritage. A departure from the blues rock sound that dominated her discography, this record comprises covers of traditional Haitian folk songs. Unlike her previous English-language albums, this project is primarily in Haitian Creole. Radyo siwèl was born after Laveaux researched Haitian singer and activist Martha Jean-Claude in preparation for her 2010 tribute show to the artist. Although the performance was canceled, she continued her immersion in the Creole culture she had little exposure to as a Montreal native. After a pilgrimage to Haiti in 2016, she returned home to Paris with newfound knowledge of vodou and folk singers like Frantz Casseus and Emerante de Pradine, all of which inspired the record.
Radyo siwèl is far from an average covers album. Laveaux gives special attention to each track, infusing her bluesy flair and signature guitar stylings to make them her own. Throughout the album, Laveaux peppers her covers with elements of her rock background to flaunt her artistic versatility. The standout track “Totalito” has surf rock rhythms, and “Twa fey” adds a funky synth and bassline reminiscent of Anatolian funk to her standard guitar-driven instrumentation.
Photo courtesy of Romain Staros Staropoli
In addition to the production, Laveaux’s creative stylings also seep through her lyrics. In the aforementioned “Angeli-ko,” Laveaux reclaims the folk classic by editing and adding her own lines. Originally a sexist song that shamed a woman for her poor housework skills, Laveaux masterfully reinterprets it as an anti-Trump anthem. Criticizing the U.S. for its occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, she mocks Americans’ misunderstanding of the country’s culture and calls for reparations.
However, not all of the songs in Radyo siwèl carry a political tone — many tracks are about vodou. “Kouzen” is a reference to the vodou spirit Kouzen Zaka, and “Lè ma monte chwal mwen” alludes to the possession of a person during a vodou ceremony. According to Laveaux, vodou has a special significance to her because, “as a queer woman, it was the only religion I saw that was very open to gender.” By recording these songs, Laveaux makes space for herself in Creole culture.
Following the release of Radyo siwèl, Laveaux’s career remains strong. Earlier in 2019, she released “Nan Pwen Lavi Anko,” a single that teases a poppier rock tone to her sound, accompanied by flourishes of bells and synths. In 2020, she held multiple pre-pandemic concerts in France, performed for Jenn Grant’s virtual Pocket Concerts series, and appeared in BBC’s Music Life podcast. Although her last full length project was released two years ago, Mélissa Laveaux shows no sign of stopping, and her burgeoning public success offers her a platform to continue sharing her Haitian roots with the world.
Listen to Mélissa Laveaux on Spotify and Bandcamp. You can find her on Instagram @melissalaveaux