Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:04 pmhi all
bit of time on me hands and new technology, so just thought id share some pictures.
in dec 05, i took five drummers from my band, beatlife,
to take part in the reunion isles abolition of slavery festival. we also had 2 singers and 3 dancers and combined samba funk and reggae with street dance and r n b style vocals.
for those whove never heard of it [and i hadnt before going!] reunion is a island east of madagascar in the indian ocean. its a french province to this day, based on the fact there was no indigineous poplation prior to the europeans bringing slaves there to work on the sugar cane. this was followed by low paid workers from asia meaning today its one of the most culturally mixed places youll ever see. ive been lucky to live in both west africa as a kid and france as a young man, and its got a bit of both, without really being similar to either. In fact, although ive not yet been to the carribean, it felt really similar in history and identity.
we worked with a local group, kozman tidalon, to produce three types of show- a parade, a morengue [where djembes and dunduns, newly popular in reunion thanks in part to the likes of mamady keita, support a creole dance ritual almost identical to capoeira] and a "spectacle" where we combined all our art forms together. we also performed our own show as did kozman. their music is called maloya and is played on roule, a powerful bass drum which is basically a cut rum barrel with a cowskin, sate [a metal sheet playing cascara style parts], cayennes which are shakers played almost identically to the brazilian patangome and a log drum. most maloya rhythms are in 6/8, although there is one very similar to maracatu and are in praise of the ancestors. maloya gathering are like raves- loads of rum and people going into trance, which is called "mongo". Apologies to any maloya fans for above spellings, ive just done it phonetically!
bit of time on me hands and new technology, so just thought id share some pictures.
in dec 05, i took five drummers from my band, beatlife,
to take part in the reunion isles abolition of slavery festival. we also had 2 singers and 3 dancers and combined samba funk and reggae with street dance and r n b style vocals.
for those whove never heard of it [and i hadnt before going!] reunion is a island east of madagascar in the indian ocean. its a french province to this day, based on the fact there was no indigineous poplation prior to the europeans bringing slaves there to work on the sugar cane. this was followed by low paid workers from asia meaning today its one of the most culturally mixed places youll ever see. ive been lucky to live in both west africa as a kid and france as a young man, and its got a bit of both, without really being similar to either. In fact, although ive not yet been to the carribean, it felt really similar in history and identity.
we worked with a local group, kozman tidalon, to produce three types of show- a parade, a morengue [where djembes and dunduns, newly popular in reunion thanks in part to the likes of mamady keita, support a creole dance ritual almost identical to capoeira] and a "spectacle" where we combined all our art forms together. we also performed our own show as did kozman. their music is called maloya and is played on roule, a powerful bass drum which is basically a cut rum barrel with a cowskin, sate [a metal sheet playing cascara style parts], cayennes which are shakers played almost identically to the brazilian patangome and a log drum. most maloya rhythms are in 6/8, although there is one very similar to maracatu and are in praise of the ancestors. maloya gathering are like raves- loads of rum and people going into trance, which is called "mongo". Apologies to any maloya fans for above spellings, ive just done it phonetically!
