portraits as readers (IV): Roselien, from train platforms to the stage
The radiant author-composer-performer Roselien travels with her guitar, her dreams and her adolescent looks between Leuven, where her heart is, Brussels, her adopted city, and London, where she recently settled. The holder of a master’s in theatre and a bachelor’s in music production, Roselien finds inspiration in the trains she takes as she makes her way from the studio to the concert halls, mapping out her destiny. See you on platform 3 at the Brussels Central Station.
Roselien has been composing since the age of 12. Her songs contain traces of jazz, soul, R&B, electro-funk and hip hop, but they manage to avoid the pitfall of cut-and-paste neo-soul. A world away from American bling, the young sprout poses the texture of her voice on compositions inspired by her quest for happiness and on productions that combine a groove with lightness and virtuosity. On stage, Roselien loves to share her infectious energy and her good vibes. Her authentic talent and elegant personality have enabled her to open for such leading performers as Gregory Porter, Meshell Ndegeocello, Luka Bloom and Anthony Joseph.
Inspiring moments around a cup of nicely flavoured tea, sprinkled with grace on an autumn Sunday which, it turns out, is not all that grey.
- Where do you like to read in Brussels?
As a student, I read a lot in stations while waiting for trains for Ghent and then Antwerp. Today I travel a lot between Leuven, Brussels and London. So I’m still waiting for trains. I also like to make the most of the sun, reading and watching people go by on the terrace of La Clef d’Or, on Place du Jeu de Balle, a typical café of the Marolles. I sometimes read in the Egmont Park, which is hidden behind the Sablon. And I dream of visiting the Alice and David van Buuren Museum. As patrons of the arts, they decorated their house with lots of artworks. I can imagine myself reading in the labyrinth of their incredible garden …
- Where do you like to buy books in Brussels?
My father was born in Brussels. When I was young, he used to take us to the Saint-Hubert bookshop in the Galerie du Roi*. It mostly sold art books and I was fascinated by these paintings and wonderful drawings. More recently I discovered Filigranes Corner I sometimes feel a bit lost in big bookshops and so I really like the idea of the booksellers’ coups de coeur, their recommendations. And then there’s the sublime Solvay Library, but I think you can only admire the books and architecture there.
- Where do you like to experience literature in Brussels?
In my lyrics and on stage, of course! More seriously, I don’t have that many friends who read the same books as me, or else our discussions are not tied to places, but rather to our aspirations, our questions about life. For that matter I really like books which I call ‘spiritual’, like those of Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Alain de Botton.
Books by inspiring personalities really move me. Maya Angelou moves me a lot, for instance. In her autobiographical novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she tells the story of her youth as an African American in a segregated America with a lot of sensibility. She relates how her strength of character and her love of writing helped her carry the dual burden of being a woman and being black. I put her poem Phenomenal Woman to music, and I love to sing it. I find the text inspiring, as I do the lyrics of Erykah Badu, because they speak of emotions without any filters. I was also blown away by Petra De Sutter’s autobiography. An internationally renowned Belgian expert on reproductive medicine, a senator for the Flemish green party Groen and transgender, she came out at age 40, loud and proud!
I like to connect with these incredible lives. They do me the world of good when I feel alone in the world or misunderstood in my artistry.
Books cited
- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969).
- Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems for Women (1995).
- Petra De Sutter & Elke Lahousse, Overleven: mijn strijd als transvrouw, arts & politica, Manteau (2015).
*To find out more about the art bookshop Saint-Hubert and its owner, which have now both disappeared, read Caroline Lamarche’s wonderful novel Dans la maison un grand cerf (Gallimard).