Music of Réunion

Réunion is located east of Madagascar and is a province (département) of France. Réunion is home to maloya and sega music.

Genres

Séga is a popular style that mixes African and European music.

Maloya has a strong African element reflected in the use of slave chants and work songs.

In Réunion there is a very strong jazz community and rock culture is also becoming strong on the island.

Rap, Reggae, Zouk, Ragga and Dancehall are also popular. One popular ragga song recently is Ragga Chikungunya about the 2005 mosquito disease outbreak.^[1]

The most popular sega musicians include Baster, Ousanousava, and Ziskakan. The most popular maloya musicians are Danyèl Waro. Meddy Gerville and Firmin Viry. Other popular singers include Maxime Laope, Léon Céleste, Henri Madoré and Mapou, named after a kind of perfumed sugarcane candy. Musicians from nearby Mauritius are also popular.

The unofficial national anthem of Réunion is a song originally sung by Georges Fourcade called Ti Fleur Fanée^[2]

The song "Madina" was chosen as the theme song by the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française in the 1950s and 1960s. The song was written by Maxime Laope, one of the island's most popular singers, and performed by another renowned singer, Henri Madoré.

One of the biggest music festivals in Réunion is the Sakifo music festival.

Simon and Ellingham; Mark with McConnachie; James and Duane (2006). World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Penguin. pp. 505–508. ISBN 1-85828-636-0. Retrieved 2009-07-31.