Cécile McLorin Salvant: Ogresse –  Enthralling

Ogresse is a musical fable billed as “both a biomythography (weaving myth, history, and biography in epic narrative) and an homage to Erzulie,” the Haitian African spirit of love, beauty, and flowers; also jealous and spoiled. French/ Haitian/American Cécile McLorin Salvant has devised a dark, powerful tale of hunger, diaspora, nature, love, and lies.

Played by a 13 piece orchestra, the cantata features folk, country, baroque opera, and jazz from lyrical to dissonant. If at all familiar with the artist, you know she excels at all these genres and more. Vocal is astonishing, but Salvant doesn’t just sing, she’s viscerally possessed by her characters. A screen above offers intermittent, impressionistic animation.

Majestic in an ochre silk robe, Salvant begins: “There is a woman lived in the woods on the outskirts of town/Her skin was chocolate brown/ Upon her head she wore a crown- of human bones…She lived with the birds…” Strings hum. Vibraphone shimmers and echoes. Imagine a magical playground.

“Songs of my beauty rolled down the hill and echoed through the valley/Father had flown away some time ago/My face was all he left behind/Mother remarried a shadow…” Oboe personifies. “The shadow took over our home/It swallowed mother and tried to put me in his mouth.” (Her hands rise like claws.) “I bit his head off …” The bloodied, intended victim ran to the woods and waited for consequence.

A banjo plays. We see a small town on pink ground. The Ogresse “is vast/She opens her mouth/It’s the size of a planet/Vaster than the sea (arms open wide.)/She’s bigger than a tree…” Vocal slip/slides. Trombone, bongos, and bass provide classical swing. Salvant holds her wrists and sways. “From a distance she looks like a bear/Beware…” Eyes pop and warn.

Arranger/Conductor Darcy James Argue

The town comes together to catch her – fiddle and banjo pervade – “but instead when they got there/She opened her mouth and put them inside/One man got away…” “A woman in the woods is feasting on your sons!” he cried. We see a willow tree and skulls. “I’m breezy/I do what I want, whatever I want,”the Ogresse sings, “Because I don’t have to shine anyone’s shoes…” Salvant swings back and forth sweetly smiling. Trumpet is jaunty. Banjo weighs in. Bass adds ballast.

The heroine bemoans her loneliness. Who could possibly love someone like her? Solo piano and French lyrics (alas, untranslated) emerge with moody jazz.

A little girl named Lily ventures out, despite father’s warning. The Ogresse is “beguiled by the curious, porcelain child.” Banjo, drums, violins; a high, wispy vocal. We see yellow grass and poppies, blue sky. It’s a country tune. Nature has its own demands. The gorgon’s stomach rumbles.

“Hair like silk/Lips of blood (a yodel)/Skin so white it’s diaphanous…What is it about a white woman that does me in so?” Country rhythm launches a two-step. It grew dark, Lily walks into arms, then mouth, suddenly gone.” We see red shoes left at the edge of a tangled forest. Guitar, flute and bongos play dense mambo. Muted trumpet, keyboard, strings expand. There’s another French verse. The Ogresse has regrets, but she is what she is.

Lead by her father, the village calls for Lily. “Vengeance! Bounty!” they cry. One who does not comes up with a plan. “I’m small and fearful. I have no upper body strength. They’re trying to kill the beast with force. I’ll kill her with kindness and love.” Vibraphone, drums, strings. “I’m not ambitious, but this is an opportunity.” We see giant flowers, milkweed seeds on the wind.

Like many myths and fairy tales, this one starts grisly, grows light, and ends in tragedy. The would-be- assassin prostrates himself declaring love, returning every day to speak and sing until the Ogresse believes. They dance. The birds know he lies, but can’t read his heart. She doesn’t listen to them until proof seems irrefutable. Then, she doesn’t listen to him. Both die horrifically.

Lyrics are poetic, but never soft. Some repeat like chants. Twice we’re lead astray by hope, then betrayed. There’s timeless grandiosity to the story. Salvant might be a traveling minstrel performing before a riveted king. Her life could depend on the balance of attention. She sings with pride of skill and purpose of message.

Ogresse is in development to become an animated film directed by Salvant.
Animation tonight by Lia Bertels/Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Photos by Lawrence Sumulong.

Cécile McLorin Salvant: Ogresse
Music and Story by Cécile McLorin Salvant
Arranged and Conducted by Darcy James Argue

Zankel Hall
May 21, 2025
Carnegie Hall Calendar