Kaya artwork called Racin Pé Brilé

This was submitted by an anonymous artist.

Mauritius Independence Day 2011

Today Mauritius celebrate  its 43rd anniversary of independence.

Rosabelle Boswell, Le Malaise Creole: Ethnic Identity In Mauritius

ROSABELLE BOSWELL, Le Malaise Creole: ethnic identity in Mauritius. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2006.

Le malaise Creole (the Creole malaise) refers to the persistence of poverty, social problems and political marginalization amongst Creoles of mixed, African or Malagasy descent, who comprise 29 per cent of the Mauritian population (the remainder is 66 per cent Indo-, 3 per cent Sino-, and 2 per cent Franco-Mauritian). Boswell examines four established (and interdependent) interpretations of the phenomenon through the lens of her ethnographic research amongst Creoles in Mauritius. In the first interpretation, le malaise Creole is seen as a consequence of dispossession and physical and psychological violence under slavery, which had a fragmenting impact upon identity, solidarity and economy (although, as Boswell goes on to argue, this fails to account for the continuing Creole evocation of both primordial and hybrid identities). In the second interpretation, le malaise Creole is a social pathology resulting from the lack of a pre-existing, underlying Creole identity (as Boswell points out, this does not explain the existence of other, more positive Creole responses to oppression). Third, Boswell outlines the claim that the African heritage and hybridity of Creoles (rather than their experiences of colonialism and slavery per se) has resulted in their destructive tendencies (a primordialist and essentialist claim that Boswell is quick to refute). Finally, Boswell outlines the suggestion that le malaise Creole is a concept deployed by Creole political and socio-cultural groups to homogenize and mobilize Creoles (she notes that this view fails to recognize the continuing impact of slavery on Creoles' access to resources in Mauritius).

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Kaya & Racinetatan - Lam Sacrifice

Rare video from the King of Seggae

Damien Elisa - Des Truf D'esclavage

The keyboardist and armonica of Kaya and Cassiya, Damien's music has been evolving for a very long time, which has been a type of escapism for the artist from the capitalistic world. Damien is known for his musical production, as he is involved at all levels of creativity in his music and is followed by the group Kiohki. The artist is one of the island’s most underrated talent that often is misunderstood by the locals due to his unconventional approach to music. He records live sounds from the Mauritian natural landscape, this could be a bird tweeting, the water running down the river and blends it into his music. He also scats words that has no real meaning just to fit the melody, which sometime has caused controversy amongst the local critics. However the artist is not bothered as this is the true essence of his music and he has found followers from both a small group of world/jazz music lovers on the island and abroad including Reunion Island, France and other European countries.
Des Truf D’esclavage taken from the critically acclaimed album N-Mots which is also responsible for putting Mauritius on the map of World Music worldwide. Des Truf d'esclavage is a lovely ballad with innocent but powerful lyrics regarding the creoles slave past that effects is still echoing in the present in the form of racism and other type of injustice.

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