Thursday, June 07, 2012

'Maloya’ a unique genre of music at Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival


KUCHING: The Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) this year will see a musician, Danyel Waro, perform a unique form of music called ‘maloya’.

‘Maloya’ is a form of music, song and dance native to Réunion Island. ‘Maloya’ was created by Malagasy and African slaves on the sugar plantations and was eventually appropriated by the whole of the island’s population. The music almost died out, only surviving thanks to a few families.

Danyel is the most well-known singer of ‘maloya’ and has received numerous awards for his commitment to promoting and disseminating ‘maloya’ throughout the world.

In Oct 2010, he went to Copenhagen to receive the prestigious 2010 Artist’s Award at Womex, an international world music professional event. He also received another prestigious award, the Charles-Cros Academy Grand Prix Award.

Danyel comes as a four-piece solo ensemble to the RWMF with his mesmerising voice, singing in Creole with traditional ‘maloya’ instruments – the kayamb, (flat instrument made from cane flower stems and filled with saffron seeds), bobre (a musical bow attached to a calabash for resonance) and roule (big drum made from barrels and cowskin head).

Indeed, his songs border on poetry. He speaks of love, death or politics, using a popular, peasant vocabulary that his urban listeners have forgotten. He creates unexpected, beautiful and powerful imagery and, most importantly, feels the convergence between words and music that makes great songs. His music evokes welling emotion, spiritual intensity and ecstatic rhythmic trance.

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