The world doesn’t know much about maloya music — or, indeed, about its homeland, the Reunion Islands. But that’s part of the fun for Maya Kamaty, who feels that both the music and the language are still young enough for her to have a hand in shaping them. Her love story with maloya and with Creole — her native language — has been a somewhat complicated one, but the artiste has been taking the music of her land to global platforms for six years now. The four-time winner of the Music of the Indian Ocean prize is all agog about her own upcoming album, and will be flying to Chennai to perform at October Fusion this weekend. Edited excerpts from an email interview:
How would you define your music, and who or what is your greatest influence?
I had the chance to perform three days ago for the opening act of Anoushka Shankar in Réunion Island. She is a great influence for me as an artiste, but also as a woman.
For this second album, we worked hard to make a proposition — an experiment of a kind of maloya... our maloya, our Creole language! It’s really hard to define, but my team and I decided to call it “numaloya”as in ‘neo maloya’.
Do you see potential for the spread of maloya music in India; Is there a loyal audience for it?
It’s always a pleasure to perform in India: It depends on where you are, but it’s always different and the audience is really curious. I met this student when I first came to [IndiEarth] Xchange 2015 in Chennai and he came back last year to see me perform. He was telling me about the good vibes he had about my show; it helped me remember why I chose this job. Maloya music and Reunionese culture is young and at the same time really strong. I am really proud of who I am and of my place as a woman in this music industry.
Has language ever been a barrier for spreading your music overseas?
When I was a teenager and started to sing, I always did some international cover (The Cranberries, Éric Clapton, Norah Jones...) and I still enjoy it. When I started to write in Creole because I couldn’t write in any other language, people started to tell me that I should sing in English, because it will be internationally known by more people. Today, I can see that singing in Creole has brought me to South korea, Morocco and United States, so it’s not a barrier at all.
I do have one track in English in my new album, and I really enjoy singing in this language so I don’t close any doors. The Creole language is so full of beautiful images that I can’t always explain what my lyrics mean. It’s sometimes good to let the imagination rise. Plus, I always say that sometimes I don’t understand English songs either, because it’s not my mother tongue, so I suppose music is never a barrier.
How has your experience as a performer changed over the years?
Itry to improve my performance by filming all the shows and watching them right after. Sometimes, I even watch my first show at Sakifo festival in 2012 to see how much headway we have made as a team, because I still perform with the same musicians: We grew up together and they helped me in the composition of the new album.
October Fusion, organised by Phoenix MarketCity and Exodus, will be held at Phoenix MarketCity on Saturday, October 6. Register at www.theexodusevent.com or call 42121631.
