Sega music or Séga is the traditional music of the Mascarene Islands: Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigue as well as of the Seychelles.
Sega is especially similar to the Réunionnais folk dance maloya. Another form of dance similar to the sega is the Seychellois moutya.
Sega music originated in Réunion. It then appeared in Mauritius and then the Seychelles; later the music spread quickly through the Indian Ocean.
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Description
The music's traditional form was largely improvised and intensely emotional and expressed the tribulations of a subjugated, initially enslaved, people.[1] It is primarily a dance music but was also used as a dirge and as part of traditional exorcisms.
Instruments
Traditional instruments include:
[2] There is also the tantam which a stringed instrument consisting of a gourd with a bow attached played in time to the drum.[3] Nowadays, electric guitars and keyboards are used.[3]
Lyrics
The lyrics of sega music usually relate to the lives of the inhabitants; they do not usually relate to the musicians' ancestral homeland. [4]
Dance
Sega is danced without the feet ever leaving the ground.[2] Instead, the rest of the body moves.
History
Origins
Sega's origins lie in the music of the then-enslaved inhabitants of the Mascarene islands.[4] It evolved out of the culture of the islands in the mid-18th century.
Sega's exact origins outside the islands are unknown.[5] However, it is understood to have Afro-Malagasy roots and be a fusion of African or Malagasy music with European music.[5] The European influence includes folk dance music like polka, waltz and quadrilles.
African or Malagasy?
Gatan Benoit suggested that sega came from Madagascar and Boswell notes there may be a link between sega and famadihana, a Merina death ritual.[1] Arago instead identifies it with (t)chéga from Mozambique.[1] He states that it is similar to the fandango and chica from Brazil whose origins are in African music from Mozambique and Angola[1]. It was termed "African" by sega musician Jacques Cantin.[5]
Place in Society
Sega was for long looked down upon because it was the music of slaves.[6] It was also looked down upon by the Catholic Church, which was not keen on its association with sexuality and alcohol.[7]
Until the Mauritian Ti Frère became popular in the 1960's, sega was only played in private places[1]. A particularly big turning point was his performance at the Night of the Sega at Mount Le Morne on 30 October 1964.[6] It is now considered the national music of Mauritius and not restricted by ethnicity.[6]
Segastronics
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Segastronics was a variety common in Mauritius in the 1970's; this was typically sega performed to heavy rock-like music. In modern times, however, this style is no longer played and replaced by seggae.
Modern varieties
Sega is now popular across the islands of Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte and Rodrigues, along with parts of Madagascar. In its modern form, sega is combined with genres like soukous, zouk and reggae. Elements of African music have been added to sega since the 1980's.[1]
Santé engagé
Seggae
Seggae is a fusion of sega with reggae, a kind of Jamaican popular music that is very popular across sega's range. Seggae musicians include Ras Natty Baby, Sonny Morgan and the man seen as being the founder, Kaya. Kaya, whose real name is Joseph Reginald Topize, was at the height of his career in 1999 when he was found dead in a prison cell. Riots[citation needed] followed soon after causing one of the major social upheavals in Mauritius. Kaya's music is, however, still very much still popular and has inspired contemporary musicians to expand the seggae genre.
Regional varieties
Réunion
In Réunion, sega is relatively slow, and is danced by couples who are not as physically close as on Mauritius. There is some confusion as to the usage of the words maloya and sega.[8] What was called sega in historical accounts from previous centuries is similar to what is nowadays called maloya.[8] The word "sega", on the other hand, is used to describe the fusion genre of the Afro-Malagasy and the European.[8]
Mauritius
Mauritian traditional sega is sega ravanne and has a more accentuated beat than Réunionnais sega.
Rodrigue
Traditional Rodriguan sega is sega tambour, where the drum is more prominent[2]. Sega tambour is considered to be truer to the origins of sega than Mauritian sega, due to Rodrigue's geographical isolation.[9] The accordion groups of Rodrigues, segakordeon, include European folk dance music such as polkas, quadrilles, waltzes and Scottish reels. Rodriguese music is extremely swift compared to other varieties. These sega tambours are sung mostly by women and are danced only by one couple at a time, accompanied by clapping or the use of improvised percussion instruments like table legs and glasses. The accordeon was not being played so much by young people but an initiative involving the European Union are giving accordion lessons to young Rodriguans.
Seychelles
Seychellois sega is called moutya and is similar to Réunionnais sega. Seychellois music is influenced by Western ballads, and especially country music.
Chagos Islands
The Chagos Islanders also had their own variety of sega[6] before they were deported from the islands to make way for the American military base Diego Garcia.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Boswell, Rosabelle (2006). Le malaise créole: ethnic identity in Mauritius. Berghahn Books. p. 30. ISBN 1845450752, 9781845450755. http://books.google.de/books?id=gN9Kc6685BQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=.+Le+malaise+cr%C3%A9ole:+ethnic+identity+in+Mauritius&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ a b c Mauritius, Réunion & Seychelles. Lonely Planet. 2007. p. 45. ISBN 1741047277, 9781741047271. http://books.google.de/books?id=x6dxoKuhDIIC&pg=PA44&dq=origin+sega+music&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=origin%20sega%20music&f=false. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ a b This is Mauritius. Struik. 2002. ISBN 1843303019, 9781843303015. http://books.google.de/books?id=2tp6oQWHIjIC&dq=sega+music&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ a b Alpers, Edward (April 2000). "Recollecting Africa: Diasporic Memory in the Indian Ocean World". African Studies Review (African Studies Association) 43 (1): 83-99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/524722. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ^ a b c The African diaspora in the Indian Ocean. Africa World Press. 2003. p. 30. ISBN 086543980X, 9780865439801. http://books.google.de/books?id=W-F5AAAAMAAJ&dq=origin+sega+music&client=firefox-a. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ a b c d de S. Jayasuriya, Shihan (2003). African diaspora. BRILL. ISBN 1872-5457. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/afdi/2008/00000001/F0020001/art00007. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ K. Lee, Jacques (1990). Sega: the Mauritian folk dance. Indiana University. p. 30. ISBN 0951129619, 9780951129616. http://books.google.de/books?id=W-F5AAAAMAAJ&dq=origin+sega+music&client=firefox-a. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- ^ a b c des Rosiers, Brigette (1992). "Ile de la Réunion: musiques et identité". Canadian Journal for Traditional Music. http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/20/v20art7.html. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ^ Mauritius: Rodrigues, Réunion. Bradt Travel Guides. 2006. p. 198. ISBN 184162151X, 9781841621517. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0clhfWR4OL4C&pg=PA198&dq=polka+sega&ei=uXsqS4_ALI6UywThrqWFCw&cd=6#v=onepage&q=polka%20sega&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
External links
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