Music with a message of harmony, solidarity

Ziskakan music troupe artists presenting a performance at Alliance Francaise in Puducherry.
| Photo Credit: S.S. KUMAR

The effervescent music of Ziskakan mirrors the melting pot of influences that is distinct to the Reunion Island, an islet-paradise located in the Indian Ocean. The Ziskakan concert at the Alliance Francaise last week was not just about foot-tapping music, it also served as a primer to a distillate of influences that make up the Creole identity.

In fact, the generational ancestry of the island’s population spans countries and continental regions, France, East Africa, the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, and even Puducherry. Gilbert Pounia, frontman of what is a legacy band founded in 1979, is now among the flag-bearers of Maloya music, which along with Sega, represent the two primary genres of Reunion Island that are rooted in an earlier era of slavery and oppression.

The Maloya musical tradition is a blend of Creole poetry and a range of influences spanning blues, slam, rock, reggae, jazz and dance and mixes afro rhythms and modern harmonies. There is even a touch of psychedelia/atmospherics in the intro or interlude sections. The band moniker, Gilbert said, roughly translates to “Until When?” in Reunionese Creole.

The guitar gifts of Clency Sumac and Wazis Loy (bass) combined with the skills of Frederic Riesser (on the drum kit), Damien Hervio (keyboard/kayamb) and Shakti Shane Ramchurn (tabla) to construct an eclectic soundscape around the Maloya lyrics. Charley Monneret was in the engineer’s seat for the concert.

The show began with “Kont mon ker” and proceeded to showcase a string of songs from the hits that have made this band hugely popular in and outside the Reunion Island as well such as “4 ti mo”, “Roseda”, “Saigon” “Sarang” and “Kaskasnikola”.

Virtually, all the local music of Reunion Island is a collective legacy of immigrants. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which in 2009, inscribed Maloya on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity states: “Although originally dedicated to ancestral worship as part of a ritual, Maloya has gradually over time become a song of lament against slavery, and for the past thirty years it has represented the island’s identity.” UNESCO also observes that “every cultural, political and social event on the island is accompanied by Maloya, which thus became a vehicle for asserting political rights.

While it is common for Réunion Island musicians to use self-crafted instruments from upcycling locally available objects, from wooden crates to tin cans, by the 1980s the Maloya genre expanded its acoustic range, roping in brass instruments, Indian percussion and other elements.

The rhythms of the tabla have for long been a part of the Ziskakan sound says Gilbert, who hails from Lyon.

Even before its transformation into one of the flagship bands of the Reunion musical scene, Ziskakan had been committed to the objective of promoting and spreading Reunionese culture.

The band is also remembered for its denunciation of the BUMIDOM (Bureau pour le développement des migrations dans les départements d’outre-mer) project of the French State that calibrated intake of immigrants who went on to be subjected to discriminatory practices — the band even dedicated a protest song in 1980.

Ziskakan’s live shows are particularly riveting for their spontaneous jams and extended instrumental solos.

There was a time around the Sixties when Maloya music was driven underground by a ban imposed by the French State. Now, the legacy is perpetuated by about 300 documented groups and through the specialised music teaching at the Conservatoire de la Réunion.

“Musicians of Reunion are now taking their music to the world…and along with it a message of harmony and solidarity”, said Gilbert.