Mélusin (Allbum) — Wikipedia

Mélusin is the first studio album of the French Folk group Mélusine, released in vinyl in September 1975 at Polydor, then published for the first time on CD (Digipack) in July 2013.

Sources: the folk movement in France by Valérie Rouvière ^{[ first ] , [ 2 ]} ; IRMA ^{[ 3 ]}

Recorded in Paris in July 1975 For Polydor and released in September 1975 , this disc is the first album of the Trio Training (including Jean-Loup Baly, Jean-François Dutertre and Yvon Guilcher) which will make known the Mélusine group.

The disc opens with a song describing the miseries of the military condition, “Le Point du Jour”, which will contribute to the success of Mélusine, a song that is both very dark and very beautiful, containing the story of a soldier who assassinates his officer. It is brought to the index on public radio antennas for several months due to its character felt as an antimilitarist. Fortunately, many live concerts on the radio, appearances on television and the frequent passage of a title like “I go down to my garden” make the album known.

Mélusine also offers an unprecedented version of “Pierre de Grenoble” (coming from his own collections in the Cévennes), very different from that of Malicorne by its sleek aspect, its completely different music and its alternative text, as well as two beaches of polyphonies In Cappella, including a version of “La PERONNELLE” to music there too different from that of Malicorne. As for the “girls who enter into dance” of which Yvon Guilcher is the author and at the “Ronde du Tournebout”, composed by Jean-Loup Baly, they seem directly from tradition.

But it is above all the polyphonic treatment of songs that will strike the public and build the image of Mélusine as an innovative vocal group.

Thus, from this first Mélusine disc affirms its musical style: polyphonies based on popular models, but open to harmonic innovation, songs accompanied strictly by traditional acoustic instruments, but with research of stamp alliances between pinched strings, strings Diffeiated and different winds for each song.

The repertoire of this first album harmoniously alternates polyphonies with cappella and instrumentalized songs, punctuated by some traditional dances, dances and songs being taken from collections or from collects.

Critics are enthusiastic: “This disc is beautiful, it is well done, without cheating; A colorful success, ”says Nicolas Cayla in Rock & Folk.

This first album contributes to making folk music known to the general public and to get it out of marginal circuits and immediately hoists Mélusine among the “flagship groups” of folk in France.

In celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the birth of Mélusine and on the initiative of Jean-François Dutertre, company Mélusine reissued in July 2013 In CD Digipack The first two albums of the group: Mélusin (1975) (CM414801) and Love prison (1976) (CM414802) (Distribution: the other distribution) ^{[ 3 ]} .

On the back of the cover, a few notes present the group: “A fairy formerly was called Mélusine. Its legend runs France from east to west. Married to a rich lord, a curse every Saturday turns it half into a snake. Unless it is no longer simply fairy with sources and ponds. For example, in Franche-Comté, it is the Vouivre. She appears as one of the main characters in French folklore. For us, it is a name and an image. Like her, which is everywhere and from nowhere, our music borrows from all the provinces of France. Now that those who have known the Mélusine fairy have died, formerly and elsewhere, we believe that the heritage of traditional music speaks in the same way to all the sensitivities of today, whether rural or city. Our music is not of the past: she is our age like Mélusine. ».

Sources ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ]}

All titles: traditional lyrics and music, melusine arrangements except:
n°4 Yvon Guilcher,
N°77b (Geee sentete) Jeane-Lonoup Baly,
N ° 11 Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Sources ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ]}

• Recording / Production: Jean-Luc Pourquier
• Graphic design: Claire Hénault
• Graphic design (lettering): Patrick Archaux
• Photography (front): M. DELLUC
• Photography (back): Jack Touroute

Sources ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ]}

• Jean-François Dutertre: song, old, spruce of the Vosges, mandole, bodhrán.
• Yvon Guilcher: song, beak flutes, cromorne, bodhrán, spoons.
• Jean-Loup Baly: song, spruce of the Vosges, diatonic accordion, pipeau.