| Sega | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | African and/or Malagasy music - European folk dance music e.g. quadrille, polka, waltz |
| Cultural origins | Mascarene islands, developed over course of time the islands have been inhabited (first in 1665) |
| Typical instruments | maravanne/kayamb (rattle) - moutia (hand drum) -ravanne (goatskin drum) - triangle - bobre - vocals |
| Mainstream popularity | High locally, low worldwide |
| Fusion genres | |
| seggae | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles | |
| Other topics | |
| Maloya, Moutya | |
Sega music or Séga is the major music of the Mascarene Islands: Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues as well as of the Seychelles. Sega is similar to the Réunionnais music genre maloya. Another form of dance similar to the sega is the Seychellois moutya. Sega music originated among the slave populations of Mauritius and Réunion. It then appeared in the Seychelles and later spread throughout the southwest Indian Ocean. It is usually in 6/8 tempo and has an associated dance form.[1]
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The music's traditional form was largely improvised and intensely emotional and expressed the tribulations of a subjugated, initially enslaved, people.[2] It is primarily dance music but was also used for dirges and as part of traditional exorcisms.
Traditional instruments include:
[3] There is also the tantam which a stringed instrument consisting of a gourd with a bow attached played in time to the drum.[4] Nowadays, electric guitars and keyboards are used.[4]
The lyrics of sega music usually relate to the lives of the inhabitants; they do not usually relate to the musicians' ancestral homeland. [5]
Sega is danced without the feet ever leaving the ground.[3] Instead, the rest of the body moves.
Sega's origins lie in the music of the then-enslaved inhabitants of the Mascarene islands.[5] It evolved out of the culture of the islands in the mid-18th century.
Sega's exact origins outside the islands are unknown.[6] However, it is understood to have Afro-Malagasy roots and be a fusion of African or Malagasy music with European music.[6] The European influence includes folk dance music like polka, waltz and quadrilles.
Gatan Benoit suggested that sega came from Madagascar and Boswell notes there may be a link between sega and famadihana, a Merina death ritual.[2] Arago instead identifies it with (t)chéga from Mozambique.[2] He states that it is similar to the fandango and chica from Brazil whose origins are in African music from Mozambique and Angola.[2] It was termed "African" by sega musician Jacques Cantin.[6]
Sega was for long looked down upon because it was the music of slaves.[7] It was also looked down upon by the Catholic Church, which was not keen on its association with sexuality and alcohol.[8]
Until the Mauritian Ti Frère became popular in the 1960s, sega was only played in private places.[2] A particularly big turning point was his performance at the Night of the Sega at Mount Le Morne on 30 October 1964.[7] It is now considered the national music of Mauritius and not restricted by ethnicity.[7]
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 jazz, zouk, and reggae.[9] Elements of African music have been added to sega since the 1980s.[2]
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 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.
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.[9] What was called sega in historical accounts from previous centuries is similar to what is nowadays called maloya.[9] The word "sega", on the other hand, is used to describe the fusion genre of the Afro-Malagasy and the European.[9]
Mauritian traditional sega is sega ravanne and has a more accentuated beat than Réunionnais sega.
Traditional Rodriguan sega is sega tambour, where the drum is more prominent.[3] Sega tambour is considered to be truer to the origins of sega than Mauritian sega, due to Rodrigue's geographical isolation.[10] 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 accordion was not being played so much by young people but an initiative involving the European Union are giving accordion lessons to young Rodriguans.
One form of Seychellois sega is called moutya and is similar to Réunionnais sega. Seychellois music is influenced by Western ballads, and especially country music. Increasingly, Reggae, hip and hop and pop style Seychellois music have become popular locally as well as internationally with the wider Seychellois community.
The Chagos Islanders also had their own variety of sega[7] before they were deported from the islands to make way for the American military base Diego Garcia.