Thank you, Cecile

It was last year when I discovered a most amazing artist, with the most beautiful voice. I mentioned her in a post back in July: My New Muse. She's Cecile Corbel, and since last year I haven't stopped listening to her. Cecile is a French singer, a harpist and a composer. Her songs are filled with Irish traditional themes (and not only), and she sings in English, Irish, Italian, French, Breton, German, and Spanish.

It's obvious I couldn't pass by this blue-eyed red-haired fairy and her beautiful voice. She's meant to inspire authors like me, whose world revolves around witches, flying brooms, and magical potions. As if her beauty and voice were not enough, she also plays the harp and doubles my love for her talent.

Her songs are so beautiful I can't decide which one to feature on my blog post today. Arietty's Song is probably one of her most famous songs, composed for the animated movie "The Secret World of Arietty," written by the great Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle). Arietty is a borrower elf, and she and her family reminded me a lot of the chimney brownies from Hollow. You will have a small glimpse of them in the 5th book. A bit bigger than the food and tea brownies, they live in Hollow's chimneys and for obvious reasons come out only when the hosts of the house are asleep.

But the song that I love the most is My Lullaby, followed with The Land of Bears, Sweet Amaryllis, Mary... alright, I love all of them. Cecile has also covered The Blackbird and The Great Selkie, both of which are featured in Witch Hollow Series, the first in Witch Hollow and the Fountain Riddle, the second in Witch Hollow and the Spider Mistress. It's easy to feature in my books the songs that are already in public domain, but sometimes I want those that are not. For example, Riversong, which is featured in Witch Hollow and the Dryad Princess. The composer, Brunuhville, is just a great guy and gave me the permission to feature his song in my book. For Witch Hollow and the Moon's Daughter I desperately needed My Lullaby. And guess what? Cecile just gave me the permission! Yay!

The Moon's Daughter herself will sing the song, during a rather sad scene. But I won't say more, because in just a month you will find out everything yourself. Many thanks to Cecile Corbel for her generosity. If you are into this type of music, then you should check the shop on her website. Luckily they deliver the CDs to the whole world, so wherever you are, you can order her CDs and enjoy her music.

Ohh, and today is Cecile's birthday! Happy birthday, beautiful lady!