Cécile Collardey (alias Cylsée /sil.se/) is a viola player, trained at Rueil Malmaison music school, and above all a self-taught singer and guitarist.
She was imbued at a very young age with music from a wide range of oral traditions, especially from the south of France, and later built up a musical repertoire enriched by experiences of spending several years living in distant lands, such as Sweden, Hungary and Japan. After musical training including with a symphonic orchestra, a female vocal ensemble, Irish sessions and folk dance groups, within the Gaia Voci Ensemble she built up a repertoire of Occitan, Italian and Sephardic music and songs that offered her the possibility of combining voice and instruments.
From 2009, her collaboration with Marcel Pérès and his Organum Ensemble opened her eyes to medieval singing, following a school of thought that closely links ancient spiritual music to the energy of songs from oral traditions. She also learnt Georgian singing from Pierluigi Tomasi, a member of the Marani Ensemble, and Corsican singing from Jean-Etienne Langianni, and deepened her knowledge of traditional Italian folk singing with Lucilla Galeazzi.
In 2014, she created a repertoire of personal compositions under the name of Cylsée, giving centre stage to contemporary Occitan poetry — that of Max Rouquette in particular — with music first inspired by Mediterranean oral traditions, and then by music that has influenced her across the years. While continuing to highlight the beauty of Occitan poetry through music, she has added her own texts to the repertoire.
Following the release of her first album, L’ombra messatgièra ("The message bearing shadow"), she created a band and also performed solo and as a duo with Goran Jurésic in a wide range of venues, ranging from large concert halls to libraries and churches. She also performs at storytelling and music events alongside storytellers, and organises traditional singing workshops (Georgian, Corsican, Italian, etc.). She is also a member of various early and world music ensembles (Odo Ensemble, Ensemble Organum, etc.).
In 2022, following a residency at the Cité de la Musique de Marseille, she self-produced a second album recorded with excellent musicians like Miquèu Montanaro (flutes), Goran Juresic (bouzouki) or Rachid Belgacem (Percussions). Los savis, ("The wise ones") album released in February 2023 was classified «favorite» of the music library of Paris.
