Maloya is one of the two major
music genre
A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...
s of
Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
, usually sung in
Réunion Creole
Réunion Creole, or Reunionese Creole (; ), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken on Réunion. It is derived mainly from French language, French and includes terms from Malagasy language, Malagasy, Hindi, Port ...
, and traditionally accompanied by percussion and a musical bow.
Maloya is a new form that has origins in the music of African and Malagasy
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
s and Indian indentured workers on the island, as has the other folk music of Réunion,
séga. World music journalists and non-specialist scholars sometimes compare maloya to the
American music, the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
, though they have little in common.
Maloya was considered such a threat to the French state that it was banned in the 1970s.
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
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
(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
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
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
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
.
Performances by some maloya groups were banned until the eighties, partly because of their
autonomist
Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose ...
beliefs and association with the
Communist Party of Réunion
Nowadays, one of the most famous maloya musicians is
Danyèl Waro. His mentor,
Firmin Viry, is credited as having rescued maloya from extinction.
According to
Françoise Vergès, the first public performance of maloya was by Firmin Viry in 1959 at the founding of the Communist Party. Maloya was adopted as a medium for political and social protest by Creole poets such as Waro, and later by groups such as Ziskakan.
Since the start of the 1980s, maloya groups, such as
Ziskakan,
Baster
The Basters (also known as Baasters, Rehobothers, or Rehoboth Basters) are a Southern African ethnic group descended from Cape Coloureds and Nama of Khoisan origin. Since the second half of the 19th century, the Rehoboth Baster community has ...
, Firmin Viry, Granmoun Baba, Rwa Kaff and Ti Fock, some mixing maloya with other genres such as séga,
zouk
Zouk is a musical movement and dance pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm, and a loud horn section. Musicians from Mart ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
, samba, afrobeat,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
, have had recognition outside the island.
Cultural significance
Maloya was inscribed in 2009 on the
of
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
for
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
This musical form was the subject of a 1994 documentary film by Jean Paul Roig, entitled ''Maloya Dousman''.
See also
*
Sega music
Sega () is one of the major music genres of Mauritius and Réunion. It is a complete performance art, involving music, story-telling and traditional dance. Musically, the most modern forms common in Mauritius are its fusion genre Seggae and ...
, the other traditional music of Réunion
*
Music of Réunion
*
List of Réunionnais
*
References
External links
Article on maloya at Université Laval (in French)
{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible music
Music of Réunion
Music of East Africa
French styles of music
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
African music genres