Maloya

Maloya is one of the two major music genres of Réunion, usually sung in Réunion Creole, and traditionally accompanied by percussion and a musical bow. Maloya is a new form that has origins in the

Description#

Compared to séga, which employs numerous string and wind European instruments, traditional maloya uses only percussion and the musical bow. Maloya songs employ a call-response structure.

Instruments#

Traditional instruments include: *roulér – a low-tuned barrel drum played with the hands *kayamb – a flat rattle made from sugar cane tubes and seeds *pikér – a bamboo idiophone played with sticks * sati – a flat metal idiophone played with sticks *bob – a braced, struck musical bow

Themes#

Maloya songs are often politically oriented and their lyrical themes are often slavery and poverty.

Origins#

The indigenous music and dance form of maloya was often presented as a style of purely African origin, linked ancestral rituals from Africa (“service Kaf” and Madagascar (the “servis kabaré”), and as such a musical inheritance of the early slave population of the island. More recently, however, the possible influence of the sacred drumming of the Tamil religious rituals has been introduced by Danyèl Waro, which makes Maloya’ heterogeneous African Malagasy and Indian influences more explicit.

History#

Maloya was banned until the sixties because of its strong association with creole culture. Maloya was adopted as a medium for political and social protest by Creole poets such as Waro, and later by groups such as Ziskakan.

Cultural significance#

Maloya was inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO for France. This musical form was the subject of a 1994 documentary film by Jean Paul Roig, entitled Maloya Dousman.

External links#

*Article on maloya at Université Laval (in French)

Genre family: African music genres, French styles of music
Region: East Africa, Réunion