Reunion Island Cultural Insight

Over the years French cultural influences have had such an overwhelming impact on the people of different races that live on the island that behaviour patterns and social norms conform to the French. Despite that, in homes and within particular ethnic groups, traditional ways and practices are kept alive and passed from generation to generation. Certain rituals and ceremonies like ‘fire walking’ persist defying modernization and syntheses with other cultures. While the different races on Réunion live in harmony and have intermarried, they continue to retain many aspects of their original cultures. An offshoot of these cultural traditions has been an entire new genre of music and dance with a distinct style of its own. The favourite dances of the French salons, quadrille and polka combine with African footwork and rhythms to produce the Sega. Maloya is a local dance and music that has its roots in African and Indian music mixed with the haunting melodies of the slaves from Africa and Madagascar. Its origins were such that the Maloya threatened the status quo and was banned by the landowning elite till very recently.  The main instruments are the ‘rouleur’, ‘caïmbre’, ‘triangle’, ‘sati’, ‘bobre’ and ‘malbar’ drums that are commonly used for Indian ceremonies such as walking on fire. Nowadays, the music most commonly played in the nightclubs and homes has strains of the traditional Sega and Maloya mixed with the more popular Reggae. Reggae is mixed with séga to make ‘séggae’ and with maloya to make ‘malogué’.