6 months ago
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The euphony of the Indian Ocean came successful acoustic waves, successful a blend of soulful melody and protestation poetry, rousing rhythms and plaintive notes during a performance by Reunion Island instrumentalist Kafmaron.
Kafmaron, singer-songwriter, performed arsenic a three-piece band, with Emmanuel Turpin connected the keyboard and Romain Aly Beril connected guitar, astatine the performance hosted by Alliance Française de Pondichéry arsenic portion of its caller ‘Month of Reunion Island’ festival.
The Kafmaron dependable is rooted successful the Maloya genre unsocial to Reunion Island with its eclectic fusion of jazz, slam and reggae influences.
The artist, who is besides touring different venues successful India to beforehand the caller album, “Bémasoune” (roughly meaning abundance of sunlight), chose a set-list for the nighttime that would beryllium a premix of caller and fewer fashionable songs from past discography.
As helium astir apt does astatine his concerts, the instrumentalist chose to beryllium interactive with his listeners, sharing snippets astir his homeland, the diverseness of its charming landscapes, its past of indentured labour and however Maloya euphony became a conveyance of moving people absorption against assemblage oppression (in fact, the euphony was adjacent banned by authorities to quell the resistance). The euphony video of ‘Rèv dékolonyal’ from ‘Bémasoune’ was changeable successful the ‘Piton Bé Massoune’, a stronghold of Maroon absorption against assemblage slavery.
And, similar idiosyncratic intuitively alert that astir radical wouldn’t beryllium capable to find Reunion Island connected a map, Kafmaron cued successful his assemblage stating that “we are next-door to Mauritius”. Only to instantly inquire them, jokingly, to hide Mauritius contiguous and zoom successful connected Reunion.
“We person a mixed culture,” helium said arsenic a pointer to however the island’s surviving traditions were shaped by intersecting influences of Africa, Europe, and Asia (predominantly South India/Puducherry region).
“Reunion Island, governed arsenic a French overseas department, has historically witnessed migration of labourers from Tamil-speaking regions of the south... we besides person temples and we devour masala and perceive to the aforesaid euphony arsenic you do”, helium said.
This was euphony that shared affinities with confederate sensibilities astir rhythm, chorus phrasing and harmony, helium would say. And, to show the constituent musically, the musicians launched into the lilting “Kavadi”, an evidently southbound Indian-sourced inspiration.
Kafmaron would prime up the kayamb, a benignant of level shaker unsocial to the Maloya-Sega philharmonic genres of Reunion Island for a fewer songs, oregon beryllium down with the cajon-like rouler percussion instrumentality for different tracks, particularly the irresistible ‘Lokal’ from his erstwhile medium ‘Lankarz’ for which helium goaded the assemblage to deed the floor.
The keyboardist, who had besides paired up with Aly Beril for a philharmonic speechmaking lawsuit anchored by the island’s salient writer Gaëlle Bélem, often injected elements of astonishment with chord changes, adjacent a fewer delectable touches aft an outro.
The presumption for the nighttime was arsenic overmuch a solemnisation of Creole quintessence, arsenic a music-driven speech of a scope of societal issues specified arsenic individuality situation of post-colonial societies, humanities absorption of plantation workers and alcoholism-fuelled home violence.
If ‘Roulman malèr’ (prison of sadness) spoke astir addiction, a shackled beingness for the affected and toxic emotion and ‘Yeboni’ tackled questions of identity, ‘Santyé lamour’ was serenade-level worldly with planetary metaphors (the feline likening his eternal emotion for his sweetheart to the world orbiting the sun).
Kafmaron closed retired the performance with the assemblage connected its feet singing on and clapping hands to accepted Sega way and the ‘Valet Valet’ opus with its eponymous refrain, essentialising accepted Maloya euphony and its deep-running African and Malagasy roots.
