[TR24][OF] Melissa Laveaux - Radyo Siwèl - 2018 (Vocal Jazz, Ethnic, Pop, World)

Mélissa Michelle Marjolec Laveaux (born 9 January 1985) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist of Haitian descent signed to No Format!. Her music has been described as a mix of roots, folk, and blues using her signature percussive finger-style guitar and soulful vocal stylings. In 2006, Laveaux released a first full-length album of her own songs. It was co-produced with percussionist Rob Reid (on tabla and cajón) and Lisa Patterson of Imaginit Music Studios. Laveaux has received critical praise from her peers in such magazines as Colorlines and is a Songs from the Heart recipient from the 2006 Ontario Council of Folk Festivals' conference in the World Music category for penning "Koud'lo".
Mélissa has opened for several artists who have inspired her music: Meshell Ndegeocello, Feist and Lura. She's also performed at jazz and popular music festivals around the globe. Although most of her performances have been in France, she regularly performs in Japan and Spain. Festivals that have featured Laveaux include the Montreal International Jazz Festival (2007, 2009 and 2010), Cully Jazz, Donostia Jazzaldia, Festival du Bout du Monde (2008), Les Francofolies de La Rochelle (2009), Sakifo Musik Festival in La Réunion Island and le Printemps de Bourges. She has been a featured guest on CBC Radio's local programs Ottawa Morning and All in a Day and its national radio broadcasts Bandwidth, Canada Live, and Go!.
Mélissa earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Ethics at the University of Ottawa in December 2007.
In 2009, Mélissa collaborated with producer MaJiKer for a track to be released on his B-side EP of Body Piano Machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9lissa_Laveaux

April 2016, Canadian singer Mélissa Laveaux heads to Haiti, her parents' homeland. 20 years have gone by since she last stepped foot there. Here she is today, still a stranger to a country that is very much an intricate part of her identity. She discovers an extraordinary heritage: the folk songs that have bred and nourished Haitians artists for decades.
Returning from Haiti with sounds, melodies, moods and stories of distant times, upon which Mélissa built the musical backbone to Radyo Siwèl. A re-interpretation, sometimes from scraps, sometimes from a few phrases in a book, from traditional tunes to vaudou anthems, sewn together like a patchwork of intersecting identities. Draping them in her indie rock aesthetic, percussive and sinuous guitars, Mélissa's voice booms and unfurls to give the music its distinct sound. The overall result benefitting from the surreal halo that the jacks-of-all-trade A.L.B.E.R.T. studio achieved to make way for these dark or light meditations, enriched by the notable shining presence of Drew Gonsalves, leading man and songwriter of Trinidadian band Kobo Town, on guitar and quattro.
Mélissa then reimagines a past, that can only serve to open up a future of new possibilities. A fairytale still looking for its happy ending. Starting at the roots, she chose the branches and leaves of the stories she best knew how to tell - piecing together an odd tree. It yields the little hog plums which endemic to Haiti, "siwèl" in creole.
Singer, songwriter and guitarist, Mélissa Laveaux, releases her new album ‘Radyo Siwèl’ on Nø Førmat! on 23rd March 2018.