Maya Kamaty - Réunion

Maya Kamaty belongs to the new generation that makes the maloya, the traditional song form of Réunion, known outside the borders of the island. The style stems from the oppression of enslaved African and Madagasian peoples brought to the island's sugar plantations became a defiant identity symbol and therefore banned by the authorities until 1981.

Maya Kamaty's father, Gilbert Pounia, was one of the spearhead artists in the liberation of music with his band Ziskakan, in whose ranks Maya was incorporated as a backing singer at a young age. As a teenager, she put this music aside but rediscovered the importance of her Creole roots while studying in France.

She returned to the island to form her own band and write the songs for her impressive debut album 'Santié Papang', successfully combining maloya rhythms with acoustic and electronic instruments.

Listen to Maya: https://youtu.be/Q9ZObLVKMyE

Maya Pounia - vocals, kayamb

Mathilde Haynes - guitar

Julien Tekeyan - drums, machines