Maloya

Maloya is next to the Séga the main music genre, a style of dance on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

The maloya characterized by intricate percussion rhythms. In addition to the bass guitar playing traditional musical instruments such as Kayamb (one with Paternoster pea or cannabis seeds filled, flat vessel rattle made of sugar or reed, which is shaken ), rouler (a large cylindrical drum made ​​from a hollowed-out tree trunk ) and Bobre ( einsaitiger a musical bow with Kalebassenresonator similar to the Berimbau ) play an important role.

The word " maloya " comes from the Malagasy " Maloy aho ", which means something like " speak ", " talk " or " chat " means. Maloya can be interpreted both as a work, as well as a lament ( ballad ).

It formed in the slaves who worked in the sugar cane harvest, and is sometimes compared because of its history with the blues of the North American cotton pickers.

For a long time led maloya a kind of shadowy existence and was at times even banned by the colonial administration and the slave owners. In the 1970s maloya was "rediscovered" by Reunionese musicians. One of the most famous artists of the maloya Danyel Waro is. 2009 maloya was proposed and taken up by France for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.