An ensemble of protest poetry, phenomenal singing and electrifying Afro beats got the crowds grooving on back-to-back evenings recently when four prominent bands from the Reunion Island took the stage on the Maison Colombani premises of Alliance Francaise.
The bands are part of a new generation of musicians perpetuating the Island’s unique Maloya tradition with its diverse combo of slam, rock, reggae, jazz and dance.
In a rare gesture, Alliance Francaise opened the usually shut seaside entrance to the Colombani for the benefit of the public. And, an audience gone wild transformed the Colombani garden into a heaving, gyrating human mass.
Instant bond
At all the concerts, the musicians and the audience seemed to strike an instant bond. So much so, Carlo de Sacco, vocalist and frontman of Grèn Sémé band, was all praise for the fans as he stepped down the stage to render an encore in their midst.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, K. Lakshminirayanan, MLA, Catherine Suard, French Consul General in Puducherry and Satish Nallam, Alliance Française president were among the dignitaries who had turned up for the event which was supported by the Puducherry Tourism Department, Navayuga and France Volontaires.
Grèn Sémé staples included Hors Sol from the eponymous album, Ti Marik, Marguerite, Une minute de silence, La rue and Zazakèl.
The band is hot property in the music circuit not only for its original style where Creole and Maloya from La Réunion meet Brel, Bashung and Noir Désir, but also for the quality of the rock poetry, dub and ternary rhythms.
Free bird
For Carlo de Sacco, the Maloya when it was forbidden was like a bird in a cage, which could not fly freely. The Creole language in particular could not express itself freely. “Now, the Maloya is a free bird, out of its cage,”.
“Grèn Sémé is part of the new generation of the Maloya. We did not know the period when Maloya was banned (in the Sixties). We try to mix Maloya with our various musical influences: rock, electro music, French song. We hope that Maloya can be a music recognised and listened to internationally, as rock or electro music,” the singer said.
The indigenous music and dance form of Maloya is seen as the musical inheritance of indentured Malagasy and Africans.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), which in 2009, inscribed Maloya on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity states: “Although originally dedicated to ancestral worship as part of a ritual, Maloya has gradually over time become a song of lament against slavery, and for the past thirty years it has represented the island’s identity.”
Political rights
According to Unesco, “every cultural, political and social event on the island is accompanied by Maloya, which thus became a vehicle for asserting political rights.
Today, it is kept alive by 300 documented groups, including a number of world-famous artists, and by specialized music teaching at the Conservatoire de la Réunion.”
Preceding the Grèn Sémé performance was an energy-packed concert by Christine Salem, one of the emblematic figures of the Maloya and one of its finest exponents.
Christine Salem sang in Creole, Malagasy, Comorian and Swahili, to the strains of her favourite instrument, the kayamb, an idiophone.
Some of her popular songs include ‘Mama Don’t Give up’, ‘Bondié’, ‘Malangé’, ‘Mandéla’ and ‘Walé’.
Christine Salem explained that Maloya music is not different from African music, as the origins of Maloya come from the African slaves.
“When African slaves were deported in Réunion they continued to play their traditionnal music, mostly influenced by animism religion. They also tried to recreate their traditional instruments and that lead to the creation of the Kayamb, the Rouler or the Sati — the very traditional instruments of Maloya and Séga music,” she said.
African origin
Christine recalls that Maloya music was for a long time banned on Reunion Island by the French colonial authorities.
Due to its African and animist origins, Maloya was not well considered, by the Christian religion in particular.
This is the musician’s third visit to India. “Maloya, which is a ternary music, is quite close to the Indian and Tamil music found in traditional Reunionese music, with the ‘Tambour Malbar’ (Tamil drum) which is a Maloya instrument originating from south India for example,” she observes.
The honour of the opening act for the two-day festival quite fittingly went to Maya Kamaty who is among the handful of women who successfully stormed what is largely a male preserve.
With a musical style that combines traditional instruments of the Maloya with modern influences and mixes African rhythms, modern harmonies and a touch of blues, Maya is among the foremost exponents in the Island. The musician, who sings mainly in Creole, is the daughter of Gilbert Pounia, the lead singer of Ziskakan, one of the most famous Maloya groups from Réunion Island.
Indian Ocean culture
Next up was a concert by Mounawar whose music references the Indian Ocean cultures thanks to its ternary rhythm the M’godro.
Born in Anjouan, in the Comorian archipelago, the Moon Islands, his music has found his influences in the Indian Ocean Afro, the funk music and the afro beat while the lyrics transport a universal message and symbolises a revolt against the disrespect shown by men to each other and to the planet.
Emmanuelle Sindraye, director, Pôle Régional des Musiques Actuelles (PRMA or the Regional Center for Contemporary Music in Reunion) which coordinated the Indian tour of the bands, says that the host city and Réunion Island have a lot of cultural similarities due to the history of the Indian workers who emigrated to Réunion Island at the end of the 19th century.
“The PRMA promotes contemporary and traditional music of Réunion Island and helps professional artists to tour internationally, said Ms. Emmanuelle, who also shares an emotional bond with this city where she has her origins on her grandfather’s side.
