Behind-the-Scenes: Meet Talie

Photo: Naomieh Jovin.

Haitian singer/songwriter and guitarist Nathalie Cerin (you may know her as Talie!) is headlining the first Table Sessions of the 2023-24 season on November 16 and 17. As we get ready for these Sessions, Talie chatted with IJ’s executive director, and shared a little more about her background, her music, and her conception of the upcoming Sessions. Read on for more about Talie, and don’t forget to get your tickets for the November event!

Tell me about yourself.

My name is Nathalie Cerin, and I go by Talie when I'm singing — it's been my nickname since I was a baby. I'm Haitian, born and raised between Port-Au-Prince and Philadelphia, but I've spent most of my life here. My family moved to Philadelphia when I was 10 months old, as my parents had scholarships to attend Eastern University. While we were here, there was a coup in Haiti, and the president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, fled to exile. Aristide had been a hero for my parents, and with mass violence towards Aristide's supporters, my parents couldn't return home. You can actually follow my  immigration story by following Aristide — I lived in Haiti from 7-17, but had to return to the states when Aristide was exiled again.

How does that emerge in your art making?

I have a very specific sound — a combination of all these cultures that made me. Growing up, my mom played piano and guitar, but I only started playing my guitar senior year of college because I missed her. When I started playing guitar, I started writing songs to practice chords — but every song that poured out of me was in Kreyòl. It was as if my brain didn't want to write in English on the guitar. 

I make music that is soft and pretty, and mostly in Kreyòl because I'm trying to stay connected to Haiti. I sing a lot of folk music and folk songs. Folk songs are really special — they belong to the whole collective of the community. So I sing Haitian folks songs, but in the style of someone who grew up in Philly. 

I also play a classical nylon string guitar. My mother comes from Cap-Haitien, a city full of musicians. It's not uncommon to find people who play guitar. In general, we don't do a lot of strumming. Haitian guitarists mostly finger pick with a lot of individual strings — nylon strings are good for that. I play my guitar very much like my mom — like someone who was raised by a lady from Cap-Haitien, but I sing like someone who was obsessed with Lauryn Hill.

I am also the executive editor of an online magazine that is published in English and Kreyòl, for folks who are trying to understand Haiti. I'm an immigrant woman in the states, trying to make sense of the life I'm able to live. Trying to make sense of why I couldn't be a thriving adult in my own country — something I'm very resentful of. I want my art making to reknit these pieces, and in what I do, I always ask: How can I preserve, remember, and stay connected to my home?

What does that connection to Haitians and Haitian culture look like in Philadelphia?

Philly is an interesting place for Haitian culture. It's usually not the first stop for immigrants — that's usually NYC or Florida — but there's now a large Haitian population here, and many people who've moved here after experiencing NYC prices! When people move here and they're looking for Haitian community, what they tend to find is the Protestant church — and then they tend to become Protestant even if they weren't in Haiti. It's a very church-y scene — and then there's also Haitian dance nights at Red Wine, a nightclub. But Haitian events that are more traditional or folkloric or acknowledge the existence of Vodou — you don't really find that in Philly. 

Will this influence what we experience at your Table Sessions in November?

I always wanted to bring a certain type of Haitian event here — more for someone curious about the culture. I want the evenings to have the coziness of a West Philly house show melded into what it's like to be at Christmas at my mom's family, where every uncle has a guitar and we'll all break out into song. I hope people come and discover a side of Haiti that they didn't even know to look for.

Don’t miss Talie on November 16 and 17 for The Table Sessions, held in Southwest Philadelphia at Bartrams Garden.