Mélissa Laveaux

In a year, Canadian-born Mélissa Laveaux has become established on the Parisian folk-blues scene. Her secret? A subtle trilingual mix (French, English, Creole), a dab hand at the guitar and an imagination inherited from the Caribbean. This is how this self-taught (and brilliant) young woman, born to Haitian parents, has distinguished herself through an unusual poetic framework combining couplets in English, refrains in Creole and a little French… An intimate history of blues-folk with a touch of soul!

Meshell Ndegeocello

Brought up on the rhythms of go-go music in Washington, the 80s sounds of Prince and free jazz, American bassist Meshell Ndegeocello has merged all these influences. With show-stopping and astonishing energy, this "rare bird" challenges the restrictive world of outdated catalogues. Some have referred to her music as "androgynous rock", others have commented that it is reminiscent of hip-hop… Meshell contains all this and flavours her music with hints of folk-blues and a pinch of electronic. But if you had to choose a single term to describe her wild musical quest, it would be soul – the basis of all the bassist’s unbridled risks.

Nouveau Paris Ile-de-France’s Banlieues Bleues selection of the week.