| Maloya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Typical instruments | Vocals,percussion,musical bow |
| Regional scenes | |
| Réunion | |
| Maloya | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Reference | 00249 |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2009 (4th session) |
| List | Representative |
Maloya is one of the two majormusic genres ofRéunion, usually sung inRéunion Creole, and traditionally accompanied by percussion and a musical bow.[1] Maloya is a new form that has origins in the music of African and Malagasyslaves 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 theAmerican music, theblues, though they have little in common.[2] Maloya was considered such a threat to the French state that it was banned in the 1970s.[3]
Compared to séga, which employs numerous string and wind European instruments, traditional maloya uses only percussion and the musical bow. Maloya songs employ acall-response structure.[4]
Traditional instruments include:
Maloya songs are often politically oriented[6] and their lyrical themes are often slavery and poverty.[6]
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" andMadagascar (the "servis kabaré"), and as such a musical inheritance of the early slave population of the island. More recently, however, the possible influence of thesacred drumming of theTamil religious rituals has been introduced by Danyèl Waro, which makes Maloya' heterogeneous African Malagasy and Indian influences more explicit.[7]
Maloya was banned until the sixties because of its strong association withcreoleculture.[2] Performances by some maloya groups were banned until the eighties, partly because of theirautonomist beliefs and association with theCommunist Party of Réunion[5]
Nowadays, one of the most famous maloya musicians isDanyèl Waro. His mentor,Firmin Viry, is credited as having rescued maloya from extinction.[2] According toFrançoise Vergès, the first public performance of maloya was by Firmin Viry in 1959 at the founding of the Communist Party.[8] Maloya was adopted as a medium for political and social protest by Creole poets such as Waro, and later by groups such as Ziskakan.[1] Since the start of the 1980s, maloya groups, such asZiskakan,Baster, Firmin Viry, Granmoun Baba, Rwa Kaff and Ti Fock, some mixing maloya with other genres such as séga,zouk,reggae, samba, afrobeat,jazz androck, have had recognition outside the island.[9]
Maloya was inscribed in 2009 on theRepresentative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity ofUNESCO forFrance.[10]
This musical form was the subject of a 1994 documentary film by Jean Paul Roig, entitledMaloya Dousman.[11]
maloya music.
origin sega music.
