" Born and raised in the southeast corner of France, Cilou started singing in her junior high school chorus. Her passion for singing soon led to lessons with a jazz pianist who encouraged her to also study lyrical singing. This she continued at the Conservatory of Nice before orienting herself definitively towards jazz and traditional music. From this moment on, she composed and also wrote words for her songs.Parallel to formal musical training, studies in ethnology gave Cilou the opportunity to explore a variety of musical contexts : techniques of Sufi chanting, jazz in Burkina Faso, music of Northern India. Her research in Social Anthropology and Ethnology (leading to an advanced post-masters diploma from the National Graduate School of Social Sciences in Paris, under the direction of Patrick Williams) led her to study a number of vocal techniques used in the jazz idiom today, and explore the ways they are transmitted. Her own singing style was influenced and enriched by this reflexion. Her research eventually took Cilou to Boston (Berklee College of Music), New York and Paris, where she met many musicians, notably Gino Sitson and Claudine Francois, with whom she continued her musical training.Cilou now divides her time between France and the United States. At age 25, she recently produced her first record, Morning Colors, inspired by a variety of musical and life experiences. Recorded in New York, the CD is the logical result of her deep love for exchanges. The CD offers up a musical mixture of jazz, African & Brazilian rhythms, and oriental colours. To accomplish this, Cilou surrounded herself with strong personalities from diverse musical backgrounds : Gino Sitson (vocals, percussions, composition, artistic production) ; Claudine Francois (piano, composition) ; Helio Alves (piano) ; Thomas Koenig (tenor saxophone & flute) ; Dion Parson (drums); Lonnie Plaxico (bass) All have in common a profound generosity and respect for others. The result is a beautiful osmosis, and a wide open, highly imaginative sound space.
The original compositions by Cilou, Gino and Claudine express moments of life and intense emotion.The CD's title song and starting point, Morning Colors, communicates Cilou's deep desire to offer something to a loved one: ("first love, now friend") in the language of her emotions, Wolof, one of the languages of Senegal. Other songs use Medumba, one of the many Bamileke languages of Cameroon, Gino Sitson's birthplace. Combining power and generosity, Cilou's voice carries these texts, resonating beautiful life experiences. In the lineage of Jeanne Lee, Cilou's deep voice spreads over more than 3 octaves. The warmth of her tone, the richness of her vocal palette, express a creativity transcending stylistic barriers. Fresh swing, doubled with a melodic fluidity, runs through her record, full of life's encounters and emotions. We can feel the vibrations of serenity and joy, and a soft but penetrating light.
