Chilean Actress Personifies a Gypsy Singer Named Kali Mutsa
The mythology Celine Reymond has created around Kali Mutsa is so detailed, it’s challenging to distinguish what’s real and what’s imagined.
“She [Kali Mutsa] was born in a valley that’s called Pachacuti. It’s an oasis of jungle in the middle of the Chilean desert. She’s born in a caravan, of gypsy artists. She started very young, she escaped in a circus and she wanted to be a dancer and then she started singing in an orchestra. Now a lot of years later she modernized her music so she can come back to the scene because she’s very young looking,” said Reymond.
And like many Chileans, Reymond’s heritage is a mix of many different cultures.
“My grandfather is Palestinian,” she said. “And I’m French, and I’m Ecuadorian, and Venezuelan, and Chilean of course. I have an ancestor that is gypsy, very far away, and is very mysterious. That’s why I like to draw a line, like an imaginary line to continue the story.”
Reymond said she’s always had an active imagination so allowing herself to be possessed by Kali Mutsa comes naturally.
“I love her. She’s me but with a magical story, you know. I’m an actress actually, but it was the most ‘near to me’ way to do music. I can be as magical and as surrealistic as I can because I’m in a character,” she said.
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