Chanteuse finds inspiration in medieval France
As the saying goes, “Still waters run deep,” and it most certainly applies to Kyrie Kristmanson, a Regina-raised singer/songwriter who has been living, performing, studying and recording in France for a half-decade.
A master’s-level scholar focusing on the musical traditions of Medieval women, Kristmanson is currently sharing what she’s uncovered and adapted through a current tour in Canada.
Her upcoming performance in Regina with Montreal’s Warhol Dervish String Quartet will expand upon poems written by Kristmanson on the guitar, then morphed by arranger Patrick Carrabre.
“I’m so in love with his arrangements and I’m delighted to be able to share them with Canadian audiences,” she said in an interview.
Her Regina show is slated for Oct. 29 at Westminster United Church. It’s hosted by the Regina Musical Club, which brings in high-calibre musical performers.
Performances in Montreal and Ottawa preceded this stop at Kristmanson’s hometown, which she left in 2007 to pursue an advanced education. She was playing folk music festivals in Canada and the United States when she was discovered by a French artist who drew her to that country.
“This will be our third time performing (the arrangement) and it’s just incredible how (the string
quartet) have brought the repertoire to life with a new sensibility and I’m thrilled to be performing with them.”
So expect an integrated musical experience. “They’re really not behaving as accompanists would — they’re telling the story as much as I am.”
Kristmanson’s style lies somewhere on the folk music spectrum, but has evolved from the “modern folk” she wrote as a student at this city’s Campbell Collegiate — and as part of “such a vibrant musical scene in Regina when I was there, and it was very inspiring.”
She defies pigeonholing into a genre and admits as much.
“I’ve never been able to give a satisfactory name to the musical language that I propose.”
Kristmanson’s migration and ensuing emergence were under the wing of Emily Louizeau, a French author, composer and singer. Some years back, Louizeau invited the Canadian to open shows for her during a tour, then followed up with introductions into France’s music industry.
“She’s a very wonderful and celebrated songwriter from France and I was really honoured to have the opportunity,” Kristmanson said of Louizeau.
Also holding Kristmanson’s interest in France was its history of women songwriters in the Medieval period, nearly 1,000 years ago.
Women emerged as composers of music with a unique and sensual perspective that clashed with the male-dominated hierarchy.
“We find (through research) women writing songs, and they’re not only the first women composers of the western musical tradition but they’re also some of the first composers to talk about profane love … not about sacred material but about earthly experience,” she said. “The result was a collection of songs that were without precedent in their sensuality and their passion. I think they were probably so extreme for the time period that only one has survived in both its words and its music intact.”
Kristmanson has resurrected their tradition of borrowing and reinventing on her latest album, called Origin of Stars. It is her second release, while a third has been recorded but won’t be out until fall 2018 in France, and later in Canada.