Welcome back to Homegrown Plus! We’re continuing to place the 2021 series of Homegrown Plus online, after interrupting it to premiere the 2022 series right here on the blog. (Find the whole Homegrown Plus series here.) Since it’s Women’s History Month, we thought we’d get back into the series with another fantastic woman musician, Mamselle Ruiz! Like other blogs in the Homegrown Plus series, this one includes a concert video and a video interview with the featured performer, plus links and connections to Library of Congress collections. Since the interview was conducted in French, this blog also includes a translation of the interview into English.
Mamselle Ruiz is a Mexican-born singer and guitarist living in French-speaking Montréal. You might expect “Mamselle,” which is colloquial French for “Miss,” to be a stage name, but in fact it’s her real first name, bestowed when she was born in Mexico city. (The full story is in our interview right here in this blog!) Mamselle was raised on all kinds of Mexican music, and she includes traditional Mexican folksongs such as “La Bruja” and “La Llorona” in a diverse repertoire that also includes Son Huasteco classics along with Latin cover songs and her own compositions.
Mamselle built her reputation as a singer in Mexico City and the Mexican Caribbean town of Tulum until a romance and a singing engagement with Cirque du Soleil brought her to Canada in 2009. She was soon winning awards from Radio Canada and the Vue sur la relève festival, and a prestigious artist’s residency at Place des Arts. Mamselle Ruiz has played over 500 concerts, in Québec and throughout Canada, as well as in Mexico, and has performed at festivals such as the Montréal International Jazz Festival and in venues such as Place des Arts in Montréal and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. She has shared stages with Lila Downs, Elvis Crespo, and Bia. In 2021, she showcased at Folk Alliance International, which is how we came to see her perform.
For her Homegrown concert Mamselle Ruiz concentrated on the traditional side of her repertoire, bringing traditional sones and Mexican folk standards from several regions of Mexico to the Homegrown at Home series. Find her concert in the player below!
I’ll confess that the interview with Mamselle was a bit of a challenge for me, since I thought we would be doing it in English but decided on the spot to do it in French. Since I hadn’t prepared my questions in French in advance, I may sound a bit hesitant, and my ability to follow up and engage fully with Mamselle suffered a bit. But of course, the interview is about Mamselle Ruiz, not about me, and she did a fabulous job compensating for my inadequacies! As an added bonus, I will add my English translation of the interview to this blog, so it will be together with the video. Find the interview video below!
[Transcript of Interview in French]
Collection Connections and Links
Here you’ll find links relating to Mamselle Ruiz and her songs, as well as links to Library of Congress collection items relating to Mamselle’s work. (And scroll on down for the English translation of Mamselle’s interview!)
First of all, you can find Mamselle Ruiz on the web at this link.
We thought our audiences might be interested in the histories of some of Mamselle’s songs, so I’ve provided links to writings about them or to other versions of them:
“Luz de Luna” is a traditional canción ranchera that has been performed by Javier Solis, Vicente Fernandez, Chavela Vargas, and many others. We love Mamselle’s bilingual version! We also like a rendition by Las Hermanas Garcia, which you can watch at this link.
“Mariquita” is a traditional song, which, according to our colleagues at the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), is sometimes attributed to Isaías Salmerón. However, other versions of it are known in rural Mexico and especially in the Costa Chica of Guerrero, where it is sung in the form of a Chilena. Mariquita is also known in current Chilean folklore, and it may have originated in Chile from Spanish models. To hear a traditional version in the INAH library, visit this link.
“La Bruja” is a traditional Mexican song about a witch. Our friends in Sones de Mexico Ensemble performed another version of this song in their Homegrown concert in 2015. Find their video at this link!
“Petrona” is a beautiful love song from Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. In 2016, Mamselle’s studio recording was featured on the compilation album “Mexico” from Putumayo records. You can see the licensed video at this link on YouTube.
“Malagueña Salerosa” is a well known Son Huasteco or Huapango song about a man who loves a beautiful woman, but is rejected because he is too poor. It’s one of the most popular Mexican folksongs, and has been covered more than 200 times by recording artists. One of the best known recordings was by Lydia Mendoza, who performed at the American Folklife Center’s inaugural concert in 1977. You can hear Lydia Mendoza’s version at this link on youtube.
“La Llorona” is a song that exists in many forms in Mexico. It often believed to be related to the best known Mexican ghost legend, about the weeping woman or La Llorona, although some believe it has a very different origin. You can read all about the various La Llorona songs (and hear many versions of them) in a blog post at this link here at Folklife Today. That post is part of a series of posts on the La Llorona legend complex, which was inspired by Mamselle’s concert! You can find the whole series at this link; the list you’ll find at the link is in reverse chronological order, so start with the bottom post.
Speaking of La Llorona, Mamselle talks about the story quite a bit in our interview. And the video of her own song, “Sombras” contains Llorona-like imagery as well. Mamselle is very proud of the “Sombras” video, and would love for you to watch it at this link on Youtube.
And finally, speaking of the interview: if you speak French, you can check out the interview video and French transcript above. But if not, we’ve got you covered. Below find the English translation of our interview!
An Interview with Mamselle Ruiz
November 22, 2021
Stephen Winick: Welcome. My name is Steve Winick. I work for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and for many years we have presented the Homegrown Concert Series presenting the best of traditional music and dance from around the world. Now, in the pandemic year of 2020, we shifted focus to do our concerts online and having video concerts that were created by the artists. And so in 2021, it’s our second year of the Homegrown at Home Concert series, and we were very, very happy to be able to present Mamselle Ruiz and Mamselle is here to talk with me and do a little interview. So welcome, Mamselle Ruiz.
Mamselle Ruiz: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Stephen Winick: So, how are you doing in terms of the pandemic? Do you find the scene is a little more lively now?
Mamselle Ruiz: Definitely, yes. I believe that now, despite the complicated and difficult situation we lived through last year, we’re beginning to settle. We are starting to be able to open more spaces to accommodate more and more people. So promoters are comfortable, and the public, in general, says “Yay!”
Stephen Winick: Really!
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes, yes. Quietly, here in Montréal more and more we have the possibility of having live music without anxiety.
Stephen Winick: OK then, great. We’re going to talk a bit about your career, but before that, could you tell us the story of your name? Mamselle Ruiz.
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes. Mamselle?
Stephen Winick: Yes!
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes, it’s a funny story, because Mamselle is a word. Mamselle means “mademoiselle,” or “miss.” So yeah.. Both my parents are Mexican. So, in fact, my mother was pregnant with Elizabeth. They were on a trip in France. They were happy. And so my mother came back from France. Of course she learned some interesting words. A few simple words like for example, “fromage,” “toilette,” “mademoiselle,” etc. So, my mother gave birth to Elizabeth and later, five minutes later, they had a surprise baby: me! So my father, he decided to call me Mamselle until they could choose another name, but they repeated it so many times that it stuck in everyone’s head. Finally, by default, My name became Mamselle.
Stephen Winick: And we might say that’s quite humorous because you now live in Canada, in Montréal where people speak French. Was that just by chance?
Mamselle Ruiz: I don’t know if it’s chance. I feel like it’s part destiny and part chance. Partly maybe my father knew something! I don’t know!
Stephen Winick: So, let’s talk about schools. The Escuela Libre de Música and the Escuela Superior de Música, both in Mexico.
Mamselle Ruiz: I had the luck to spend some time at both of those schools. I started studying music at the first school, the free school of music. And it was a private school, a small school too. But I studied opera there. And I learned a lot, but I came to understand that I was not meant to sing opera.
Stephen Winick: No?
Mamselle Ruiz: So I chose to go to jazz. I spent two years at the Escuela Superior de Música as an auditing student, i.e. a person who is not registered as such, but I was present at classes and all, because I was working at the same time. And so, I loved it very much. I sang with the Big Band, the orchestra. And then I said to myself: no, it’s not jazz either! I was a bit lost! I am a singer, yes, but it’s not opera. It’s not jazz.
So I started to take lessons with Alexandro Campero. He’s an extraordinary singing teacher in Mexico and he learned a technique from Seth Riggs, a technique called “Speech Level Singing.” So I was trained to train singers. So, at the same time as I learned to have more technique, I learned also to offer training. So I’ve become voice coach. It’s been 17 years since I began as a vocal coach too. And so it gave me a lot, a lot of material to be able to build on my vocal technique. But on top of that, it was really through performing and through the singing courses that I offered to people that I learned the most. This is where I have really learned. Yes. So! This is my experience and I continue to do both. I am a voice coach still today. I have big projects in that field as well.
Stephen Winick: So, how did you start to sing traditional and folk songs?
Mamselle Ruiz: That, it’s a good question, because when I was in Mexico, I liked traditional music, but it seems like when we are in our own country, we don’t see the value of its root traditions. It’s more when I got uprooted and arrived in Canada that I suddenly felt a hunger to search for and dig into the traditional repertoire. And that’s what helped me sometimes feel close to my family, and to my city. I was like: Oh! Singing. Yes. Yes. It feels right! I am well! It was really in that way that quietly, the traditional repertoire began to incarnate in my heart, in my voice; and there were songs I never would have thought to sing, like for example, overdone cliches like ” Bésame Mucho.” We have a version which is wonderful! But I would have never thought to sing “Bésame Mucho!” Anyway, that’s how it is.
Stephen Winick: Okay. Let’s talk about the song “Petrona”.
Mamselle Ruiz: “Petrona.” “Petrona” is a song that I learned from an album which was shared with me by my best friend in my youth, a friend with whom I am still very, very close. And this song, I sang it in the street often in Mexico. I did a lot of music in the street. And so I had it in my repertoire when I came here. So I started developing it, and singing it, and I recorded it on one of my albums. The album “Miel de Cactus.” And then it was Putumayo Records who chose to take my version and include it in the new version of the Putumayo Mexico disc…and wow!
Stephen Winick: Wow!
Mamselle Ruiz: To have that honor to be part of this compilation that we really love. So yes, it’s still there and, sometimes I still sing it on stage.
Stephen Winick: Was it a big moment in your career, this moment of Putumayo, did it change a lot for you?
Mamselle Ruiz: In fact, it is one, let’s say, one, in Spanish, we say: “una pluma más,” [one more feather] or “una raya más al tigre” [one more stripe for the tiger]. It means that it’s wonderful, because we were lucky enough to receive many awards, many nominations, many prizes. But among these honors, we were able to have a song on this compilation from Putumayo, which I adore. It really is a compilation I have always admired. I was like: Wow! We will definitely listen to Putumayo. And then, alongside great artists too, I have to say. To be able to be among them? I’m like: “Oh, my God!”
Stephen Winick: And how did you go to Québec for the first time?
Mamselle Ruiz: Oh, yes! That’s a good question. I was chosen to do part of a project at the Plaza Mexico, in the north of the country. A project in which there were circus performers, because I am also circus artist. There were French, Québecois and Mexican artists. And so I went there to do that tour, and I met the person who later became my partner, my manager, my producer. So that’s how we began our journey, until the moment we left the project and we chose to stay here in Québec. And so, I didn’t really choose to stay in Québec. In fact, I just let myself be brought here. And see, I am still here!
Stephen Winick: Excellent! Let’s talk a bit about Cirque du Soleil.
Mamselle Ruiz: Cirque du Soleil, it changed my life, because it’s one of the – – it is thanks to them entirely, or in large part, that I’m still here in this country [Canada]. Because when I first came here, it was one of those times that I came traveling for just a month, and Cirque du Soleil held auditions in which I–we did auditions with Simon. Then in the end, they accepted me. They accepted us both. And then I suddenly had a six-month work permit, which was subsequently extended to a second year. So voila! Thanks to Cirque du Soleil, I stayed here for this wonderful adventure! I swear, it was one of the best schools I could ever have in my life. Filled with incredible people. Filled with talent. And there you go! One of the best experiences of my life.
Stephen Winick: And there was also a show in Andorra?
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes. That show. Yes. I was very lucky. At one point, I was in a concert, here in Montréal and there was a person who came, who spoke to Simon, who said: that’s interesting, that person; that singer. I’m going to see her today at her concert, because we would like her to be the principal singer in this show which is going to be presented in Andorra in 2015. So, Simon, he didn’t tell me anything. They came. He loved it. So he chose us, and we went to Andorra for that summer, the summer of 2015. We did several shows. A lot of preparation. It was really—wow! I confess that I was a little afraid of not filling the shoes, of not being up to this role. Obviously, it wasn’t a sure thing that I would be. They had chosen me for it, but I was like: Ah! I was a bit scared. But finally we were very successful in that work.
Stephen Winick: Okay. Who is this role? This White Lady?
Mamselle Ruiz: The White Lady. The White Lady, it’s curious, because the White Lady is a very popular character in local stories from villages in Europe. Some places in Europe, including Spain too. And so, this woman, the White Lady, appears as a very mystical being, possibly a phantom. In this story – this character exists also in Mexico. This character came, I imagine, with the Spaniards. We also have the White Lady, La Llorona.
Stephen Winick: La Llorona. Yes.
Mamselle Ruiz: They appear to have something of the same personality. So…I embodied La Llorona. Oh my God! So! It was funny once again. Yes. The White Lady.
Stephen Winick: That’s wonderful! So let’s talk about La Llorona and La Malinche.
Mamselle Ruiz: Right. La Llorona and Malinche. Obviously, the La Llorona song, it’s a song that has no known author. The author’s identity was lost to us over the years. We do not know exactly who it is, or where, or when. However, this piece has become so much a song of the people that now it is part of, let’s say, of the collective unconscious. And so there are some people, some theories which say: Ah! Maybe La Llorona is Donna Marina. That is, La Malinche, because La Malinche is also called Dona Marina. So yes, because this woman who weeps…the people treated La Malinche as a traitor. But she was only trying to survive, to not get killed. She was a lady who was very educated. A native who had many, many – well, a difficult story, because even if she came from a very high family, say, very rich or highly educated; native Mexicans…she was sold as a slave to the Spaniards. Since she was very talented at learning languages, she easily learned to make connections between Spaniards and natives. So, without really wanting to be, she became a key part of colonization taking place. Seemingly, at the time, she was a traitor. She didn’t know what would follow later. She just wanted to move forward and survive. Anyway, that’s what I believe, in her defense! But in any case, in the end we know what happened. Intuitively, we say that maybe that woman, it is she who is weeping. She’s the weeping woman! And also, there are other legends of La Llorona which are so dramatic that I’m not even going to tell them, because they are really like: Oh, my God! No! It really is like: no, no, no!
Stephen Winick: Yes. There are many stories of La Llorona.
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes. Yes, some are quite deep in the drama. So I prefer to stay with the historical side which is very interesting. And there you go.
Stephen Winick: Okay. Let’s talk a bit about your albums. How many albums have you recorded?
Mamselle Ruiz: This month, we are in the process of making the fourth. We did “Maiz”, the very first; a mixture of my life there and my life here. Transition. “Miel de Cactus,” which is rather a little more established here, but still with traditional Mexican music.
Stephen Winick: Yes.
Mamselle Ruiz: Mixed anyway, because the musicians are Québec musicians who perform the music in a North American way. Which makes it really interesting too. Then, we did “Soleil de Lune”, which was released in 2019, just before the pandemic exploded. And now I’m in the process, just about to launch “Sombras” as well, this music video: it’s our baby which we adore. Anyway, it’s fantastic. I love it so much. And then we also did – we are doing the album “Eclipse.” It’s a much more introspective album. In theory it is the Lunar side of “Soleil de Lune.” So “Soleil de Lune” is a double album. The rhythmic sunny side has already come out. Now we are in the process of finishing, polishing, moving forward on this album. And on top of that, we have a single that also came out and obviously other collaborations with other interesting people, other great artists.
Stephen Winick: Okay, thanks! Let’s talk about the video of “Sombras”, because it’s fantastic! It’s wonderful, really.
Mamselle Ruiz: I have to say, I recognize without any arrogance that it really is a work of art. We started with something small as an idea. It’s just that Simon, he’s ambitious, and me too, I’m ambitious. We said to ourselves: “A church. Wolves.” I was like: “No, not a wolf. It’s gonna be a dog!” “No no no! It’s gonna be a wolf!” “No. That’s so expensive, a wolf!” Finally, he found a wolf! Eventually he found a wolf. We also found – we did great collaborations with Ballet Mexicain de Montréal and the Ballet Raíces de Colombia. So they are the dancers and the people in the church. Very, very beautiful. They also graciously lent me costumes for the musicians and all that. And so it was really a three day adventure to shoot it. We filmed the first day, the make-up scene, because it’s me who did the makeup, but I had to do – let’s say that I start with the white makeup, and I sang the song once. After that, we added the black. [NB Mamselle is describing makeup transforming her into a Catrina Calavera or skeleton.]
Stephen Winick: Wow!
Mamselle Ruiz: That’s it. After that, special effects. That’s what was the most expensive. To be able to unite all those things. Wow! It was something! And on top of that, of course, a magnificent church. My God! We found that church. It had just been sold. After that it became a cultural center. So we were, wow! It was just in the transition. We seized the opportunity and it worked. The wolf, Maya. Of course Simon found it through his friend. So the final pice was the wolf…finally, that made the video. It was a reflection of a dream, of a real dream that I had. Because the musical piece, it’s Dominic Gamelin, my musical director, who created the music. So I had a dream and he sent me the piece and I wrote that story around the piece that I had read. And it fit perfectly. And then, we generated the dream. So that was really wow! And…there you go!
Stephen Winick: As I said, it’s fantastic! Really! So let’s talk a little about writing songs. You write your songs and what is your process for doing that?
Mamselle Ruiz: I don’t push the process. I let creativity arrive when it wants to arrive. Certainly creativity, for me, is still a muscle that needs to be worked, but for example, I have difficulty writing when it’s summer. When it is, for example, there’s a lot of sun, and we’re on tour. I have to be in a place of introspection. Autumn begins…gently, I would say ideas begin to come down. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night. “Oh! Paper to write things down!” Sometimes I record a small portion, a little piece to capture it. After that I set myself to work in a more logical, more Cartesian way, to logically construct a piece, but based on inspiration of some kind. And sometimes it can be also inspired by life’s drama. Sometimes by fantastic things. Nature can be part also of that inspiration. And immigration, of course, it’s one of the big subjects of my compositions. “Do I want to immigrate?” So, yes, I know. It’s like talking with myself, for me.
Stephen Winick: Okay. I wanted to talk a little also about your collaboration with the Brazilian-Canadian singer Bïa.
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes! Well, that was an invitation that she extended to me to be part of this duo and we worked together for two years. We started to collaborate casually. We saw that it worked. And so we chose to do a summer tour. And then one in autumn. We chose to record a small album. And then we chose a second year of touring together. After that, of course, we had to continue along our own paths, but it was still very enriching for me, to be able to share with her and we really had a nice tour. We both got some nice benefits out of the project.
Stephen Winick: So, a something that makes you unique, I think, is all the languages you speak and you sing. So we have French. We have Spanish. We have Portuguese and Zapotec. So how did you learned these languages, but also how you begin to sing in all these languages?
Mamselle Ruiz: Well, actually, I do not really speak Portuguese and I don’t speak indigenous languages. On the other hand, I love being able try out different languages in my mouth. As a teacher, I see how each language uses different portions of our mechanism. So, I’m curious, how Italian, for example, can be embodied without me feeling false, so that I can have an authentic voice myself, in that version. It’s like going to find different versions of my soul. So I speak Spanish. I sing in Spanish. Also English, a little English. French, because French has an important place for me, but I love to sing differently. I will continue to explore.
Stephen Winick: So, we met Mamselle Ruiz at Folk Alliance International. Let’s talk a bit about Folk Alliance.
Mamselle Ruiz: Wow! Folk Alliance is really an amazing family. People who believe in culture and who—for sure, it’s a great opportunity for me to be able to be a part of this palette, of this showcase. I love Gilles [Garand]. I love the people who open the door and who work immensely hard so that we can continue on our way. I say, it’s called big invisible eyes, because we don’t see the people who work behind this organization and it is thanks to them, often, thanks to these kinds of people who are engaged deeply that we are able to continue. That’s wonderful. Thank you very much Folk Alliance!
Stephen Winick: Yes. So let’s talk about the process of recording the lovely concert that you did for us in the Homegrown at Home Series.
Mamselle Ruiz: Yes. For real, it became magical. We had a summer like… The summer we had had this year – I don’t know about in the United States, but here, at least March, we had nothing!
Stephen Winick: Yes.
Mamselle Ruiz: But then in April, we had everything! So it was like, “calm down!” So of course, time was passing and we had to have time to do that shoot. So finally, we said to ourselves: OK, the date is approaching, and we aren’t ready! In the north of Montréal, suddenly, someone said, “I have a loft!” And the team…we had a team already formed. So it was William’s home, and the whole team…we got cameras and Simon’s family helped, and the musicians were just lovely. Everyone brought their microphones, their stuff. Everyone’s gear. Then we said: well, here we go! It was really a party for real. Oh my God! We saw the result and we were like: Oh, my God! We’re pretty good! It’s not easy make videos. It’s like new to us to learn to make quality videos at home. It’s for the Library [of Congress] in Washington! We really wanted do something beautiful. We were like: OK! It has to be beautiful. So, we did it, and we were happy with the result, and we are happy that you liked it too!
Stephen Winick: So, what are your projects in the future?
Mamselle Ruiz: OK, the project coming out this year is that I began a collaboration with the great Italian singer Marco Calliari and we are preparing that, that duo concert. And then, we’re also preparing the release of the album “Eclipse,” but it is not quite ready yet. We thought we wanted bring it out this winter, but ultimately it will not be this winter, because we felt that–we should stay fluid. So we took the time to finish this album right. Probably in the fall. We’ll see! So, in February, we’re going to be at Rideau. So I don’t know if you’re going to be at Rideau, but we are going to Rideau. I think you know what it is. In Québec City. This very popular showcase. We will be there. And we hope we’ll to be able to reinstate the tour that fell through [due to COVID], because for “Soleil de Lune” we had an international tour almost fully booked. It was fantastic. We were going to Paris. We were going to LA. We were going to Mexico. Japan. New York. We went to France also, Paris, and we had a lot of opportunities which suddenly disappeared. This year, we hope that we will be able to quietly get back on our feet and continue to do the beautiful work we love.
Stephen Winick: Okay. Is there anything else you want communicate to our audience here?
Mamselle Ruiz: Let’s be as connected as possible to ourselves and listen to music to be connected to ourselves. Let’s breathe and be open to the law of change. Welcome that which comes for us that is beautiful. Look at what bothers us to be able to learn to transform it, to become better humans, to become a better humanity in this beautiful blue planet that we love.
Stephen Winick: Mamselle Ruiz, thank you for your concert and thanks also for speaking with us today.
Mamselle Ruiz: Thank you very much for allowing me to do this in French!
Stephen Winick: Yes. It’s a little more difficult for me, but I can do it, obviously with difficulty. So, so I apologize for my broken French or my difficult French, but thank you for doing this, and we’ve really appreciated your concert and we’d love to have you here as well. So thank you so much again, Mamselle Ruiz.
Mamselle Ruiz: Thank you too and see you later. See you soon I think in Washington.
Stephen Winick: I hope so.
Thanks!
As always, thanks for watching, listening, and reading! The American Folklife Center’s Homegrown Concert Series brings music, dance, and spoken arts from across the country, and some from further afield, to the Library of Congress. The idea of the Homegrown Plus series is to gather concert videos, video interviews with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections together in one place for our subscribers. (Find the whole Homegrown Plus series here!)
For information on current concerts, visit the Folklife Concerts page at Concerts from the Library of Congress.