French touch —
“Kréyòl Seasoning”,
Meemee Nelzy
Writer’s block, lack of motivation and inspiration, need for space and breathing, sometimes all those conspire to make blog posts quite difficult to create and in the past weeks they all took turns to keep me away from serious, consistent and regular updates. As is often the case though, a sparkle will rekindle the fire and bring back my enthusiasm and desire to share beautiful music. Tonight, this sparkle is a gem of an album, courtesy of French West Indian singer Meemee Nelzy. I first told you about her back in 2010, with an introduction to her music and debut album Âme Nouvelle and more recently with the single Opposite of us with US rapper DiverSe. After months of more or less patient waiting, we are finally offered the amazing Kréyòl Seasoning. An album that pulls me out of my lethargy most definitely deserves a blog post and it is with great pleasure that I am sharing it with you now.
Taking a slight turn from her debut album, Meemee presents a B-side album where all the tracks are in Kréyòl (most tracks on Âme Nouvelle were in French) and where she invited extremely talented West Indian producers to help her shine and showcase all the goodness they have to offer. A wonderful invitation to discover Kréyòl language, music and more generally culture, the album will make you travel to Guadeloupe in your mind and imagine yourself immersed in all the richness the island has to offer.
Dealing with love and life, Kréyòl Seasoning is blending different rhythms (or spices) from hip-hop to soul and Carribean traditional music, making the project deeply rooted in the islands’ soil but with a universal and international approach. This openness and blending of traditions and modernity makes it very powerful and unique. When it comes to the lyrics, if you are not lucky enough to understand kréyòl, you’ll have to feel the vibes and enjoy the melodious and enchanting voice of Meemee Nelzy. I can kind of guess some of them so I could say I’m halfway there, but I really appreciate this part of mystery that is left and how it makes my imagination work harder.On top of the elements I already mentioned, what makes the originality of Kréyòl Seasoning is the different collaborations, with West Indian beatmakers and artists but also with US rapper John Robinson, who is featured on one of my favourite tracks, the incredible Nouriti a lespwi. This could have made the project less personal, as Meemee is much less involved in the production as she was with Âme Nouvelle, but this is actually not the case and strength in numbers really works here, as the addition of all the talents only reinforces the singer’s message and once again makes the album both personal and universal. As it is quite different from her debut album, it will be a great complement, not just a new version of the same thing, which is a testimony of her growth and progress. I greatly appreciate that in an artist and I’m very happy to see Meemee shine brighter and brighter and be discovered by a wider audience.
Both Âme Nouvelle and Kréyòl Seasoning will be in regular rotation here and will surely help me find some warmth and brightness whenever I need it.
Now that you know more about Kréyòl Seasoning, all you need to do is head to Meemee Nelzy’s Bandcamp page to listen to the album and of course support her efforts. You can also click on the link below. Enjoy the journey and spread the goodness!
Kréyòl Seasoning by Meemee Nelzy
Find out more about Meemee Nelzy on her website