M'ap Boulé

Triple threat Nancy Denis has quite a voice. At its highest, her alto can fill every corner of a hall with a timbre as rich as a meaty cab sav. At its lowest, it reverberates through the seats to set up a vibration between your diaphragm and lungs with an effect like a Gregorian chant. The music, written by Denis as well as late violinist Carl St Jacques, spans R&B, pop, soul and hip hop. Denis sings with a huge hearted passion and breathtaking precision and vocal control.

Originally written in 2019 and like many shows held up by the pandemic, M'ap Boulé draws from Denis’s experience growing up the daughter of Haitian immigrants who were settled in Redfern, and how she drew on the spirituality of her Haitian ancestors to support her through racism, poverty and bipolar disorder. The stories are humorous, surprising and sometimes gently shocking. These range from funny childhood anecdotes through to a powerful sequence which shows what it must be like to slip past the point where a very good mood passes into a manic episode, and then the inevitable swing downwards. Denis explores this dark territory with disarming honesty, before arriving at the place she is now: m'ap boulé, Haitian Creole for “I’m on fire”—meaning “I’m doing well”. She’s killing it.

And all this is backed up with a team of marvelous musicians. Ugandan-Australian rap artist and fellow traveler Kween G Kibone interweaves hip hop poetry. Musical director Victoria Falconer plays keyboard, violin and many other instruments, notably a saw which she plays beautifully. Jarrad Payne on drums rounds out the sound. Just occasionally I would have liked a few more instruments to round out the sound.

Nancy Denis’s experience mirrors that of other non-white people growing up in Australia, so hers is an important voice to hear. M'ap Boulé is a wonderful show and I hope we hear more of Nancy’s sublime voice.

Cathy Bannister

Photographer: Jacquie Manning