India Ocean Segas from the 70's

Description

In the islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean, in Mauritius, Réunion, and the Seychelles, slaves were deported from Africa and Madagascar starting in the 17th century to cultivate coffee and then sugar cane. On the plantations, during clandestine gatherings, they escaped their daily lives through percussion, singing, and dancing. This is tschiéga, chéga or séga, with Mozambican and Malagasy influences. During the 19th century, the gradual appropriation by Creole populations of Western instruments and the melodic traditions of old Europe (quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, scottish, romances, mazurkas), as well as the cultural contribution of indentured workers from India, laid the foundations of modern séga. This crossroads of influences would continue to grow richer, especially from the 1950s onward, which marked the arrival of the first phonographs, playing all kinds of popular music as well as jazz, soul, rock'n'roll, and even Cuban and Brazilian music.
For séga, these were the beginnings of a period of intense creativity that would span the 1960s and 1970s. Amplified instruments arrived, and electric guitars, basses, drums and keyboards quickly replaced violins and accordions.
Record production exploded and saw the emergence of many micro-labels where genius arrangers such as Marclaine Antoine, Gérard Cimiotti, Eric Nelson, Claude Vinh San, or Narmine Ducap worked, exploring séga in its many facets. Psychedelic keyboards, fuzz guitars and undulating basses join the furious ternary polyrhythms of drums, ravannes, bongos, claves, triangles and maracas, to produce a unique style.