The music of the Indian Ocean came in acoustic waves, in a blend of soulful melody and protest poetry, rousing rhythms and plaintive notes during a concert by Reunion Island musician Kafmaron.
Kafmaron, singer-songwriter, performed as a three-piece band, with Emmanuel Turpin on the keyboard and Romain Aly Beril on guitar, at the concert hosted by Alliance Française de Pondichéry as part of its recent ‘Month of Reunion Island’ festival.
The Kafmaron sound is rooted in the Maloya genre unique to Reunion Island with its eclectic fusion of jazz, slam and reggae influences.
The artist, who is also touring other venues in India to promote the new album, “Bémasoune” (roughly meaning abundance of sunlight), chose a set-list for the night that would be a mix of new and few popular songs from past discography.
As he probably does at his concerts, the musician chose to be interactive with his listeners, sharing snippets about his homeland, the diversity of its charming landscapes, its history of indentured labour and how Maloya music became a vehicle of working class resistance against colonial oppression (in fact, the music was even banned by authorities to quell the resistance). The music video of ‘Rèv dékolonyal’ from ‘Bémasoune’ was shot in the ‘Piton Bé Massoune’, a stronghold of Maroon resistance against colonial slavery.
