Cécile McLorin Salvant releases Mélusine exploring the European folkloric legend of Mélusine, a woman who is part snake. Cécile showcases her genre-defying style on this album combining five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century spanning multiple languages including French, Occitan and Haitian Kreyòl, an ancient language spoken in the south of France.

In exploring this legend, Cécile describes her aim as “more akin to revealing secrets than telling stories”, to reveal a story that is also about the “destructive power of the gaze”. For Cécile who is French and Haitian the album also explores the “feeling of being a hybrid, a mixture of different cultures”.

We feature Mélusine in our playlists Inversion and Sarah Picks.