MGAM » Kyrie Kristmanson

Kyrie Kristmanson

<a href="http://www.vimeo.com/60991950">http://www.vimeo.com/60991950</a>

“With an owlish lyrical concentration that recalls early Leonard Cohen…something of the prodigy in her style.” Globe and Mail

Kyrie Kristmanson is one of those artists who, either by nature or design, escapes definition. At the age of 16, she seemed to appear on the Canadian folk music scene out of thin air with her trumpet, guitar and trademark pillbox hat. Surprising and delighting from coast to coast with her fresh and elemental songwriting, she was recognized as the Best Young Performer by the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2009 and received numerous commissions and awards based on her first two independently released albums : the Kyrie K Groove and Pagan Love. Already her first songs (as the Globe and Mail wrote) sounded like they were ripened in some lost and ancient canyon and seemed to defy categorization. The demanding and exciting French label NO FORMAT! discovered her at a Feist show where she was accompanying the opening act Mélissa Laveaux on the trumpet. They invited her at the age of 19 to release a compilation of her songs for the rest of the world on an album called Origin of Stars.

After relocating to Paris for the European, UK and Asian tour, Kyrie decided to pursue her interest in the female troubadours of Medieval France. Long days in dusty libraries and trips to castle ruins in the South inspired her to write a cycle of poems, which would be arranged for string quartet and voice by Canadian composer Patrick Carrabré. Kyrie is currently collaborating with French composer Vincent Ségal on a complimentary repertoire of songs based on her interpretation of the lost melodies of the female troubadours, which she will begin performing and recording in 2012 and 2013.