{"id":5655,"date":"2019-07-09T11:08:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T09:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.auxsons.com\/?post_type=focus&p=5655"},"modified":"2019-10-16T13:02:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T11:02:21","slug":"from-mayotte-to-reunion-the-body-at-every-latitude","status":"publish","type":"focus","link":"https:\/\/www.auxsons.com\/en\/focus\/from-mayotte-to-reunion-the-body-at-every-latitude\/","title":{"rendered":"From Mayotte to R\u00e9union, the body at every latitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2018, the driving force behind Kassav\u2019, Jacob Desvarieux, put his weight behind the new scene coming out of France\u2019s overseas territories by inviting their promising talents to the Olympia. For this second part of our cycle dedicated to the creativity of France\u2019s islands, we look at the islands of Mayotte and R\u00e9union.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MAYOTTE<\/span> OR<\/span> THE<\/span> BODY<\/span> MADE<\/span> TO<\/span> DANCE<\/span>, FROM<\/span> DEBAA<\/span> TO<\/span> HIP-HOP<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the anthropologist Damir Ben Ali, \u201cfor Comorians, music is an effective and prestigious means of communication\u201d.<\/p>\n

As you travel around the island of Mayotte, the deep roots and constant presence of Sufi devotional practices are clear to see. Spirituality, passed on in the Koranic schools, is honoured in many forms: moulida chengue, dakhira<\/em> and debaa<\/em> singing, etc. The latter, a female musical-choreographic genre originating from the Rifayi and Qadiri religious groups, is a responsorial song of praise to the Prophet, accompanied by minimalist, hypnotic dancing that consists of sketching out movements with the upper body using slow and refined gestures with the arms \u2013 ornamented with jewels \u2013 and hands \u2013 covered in henna \u2013 which move in unison to the beat of the tambourines in perfectly controlled undulations that evoke the waves of the ocean. Debaa, a wonderful event when everyone gathers in a venue decorated for the occasion (bandra bandra<\/em>) and the archetype of a matriarchal society, has not lost its fervour at weddings and festivals held in Mahoran villages \u2013 unlike other endangered dances such as wadaha<\/em> (the dance of the pestles). Yet it also circulates away from the island, both in northern Madagascar and in Europe, where, thanks to its aesthetic reach, transgenerational nature and the profound respect its joyful beauty inspires, it has become the prestigious privilege, a floral and colourful synonym for its island, like the bright saluvas<\/em> in which its female ambassadors are dressed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n