Ziskakan

One of the most unforgettable concerts I have attended was by a band called Ziskakan from French Réunion Island. Réunion is a curious place, to put it mildly.

From Wikipedia, edited:

Réunion (French: Réunion or formally La Réunion; previously Île Bourbon), is an island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 200 km (130 miles) south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.

Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France. Like the other overseas departments, Réunion is also one of the twenty-six regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic with the same status as those situated on the European mainland.

Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union, and thus the currency used is the euro. It is located in a time zone to the east of Europe.

This is a map of France, highlighting Réunion in the box.

Réunion contains most of the same ethnic populations as Mauritius: Indian, African, Malagasy, Chinese and ethnic French - but in different proportions. Creoles (a name given to those born on the island, of various ethnic origins), make up the vast majority of the population. Whites make up approximately one-quarter of the population, Indians make up 21%, and people of Chinese ancestry form most of the remainder. There are also some people of Vietnamese ancestry on the island, though they are very few in number.

While Gujarati, followed closely by Tamil people make up the majority of the Indo-Réunionnaise people, people of Hindi, Urdu and other origins form the remainder of the population. Reunion is very similar in culture, ethnic makeup, language and traditions to Mauritius and Seychelles.

Réunionnaise Creole is the main language of the country, though French is more commonly spoken. Mandarin, Hakka and Cantonese are spoken by the Chinese community, but their numbers are dropping as younger generations start to converse in French. The number of speakers of Indian languages is also dropping sharply. Arabic is taught in mosques and spoken by a small community of Arabs. The island's community of Muslims from North Western India and elsewhere are also commonly referred to as Arabs.

Réunionese culture is a blend (métissage) of European, African, Indian, Chinese and insular traditions.

The most widely spoken language, Réunion Creole, derives from French, with many idiosyncrasies. Réunion Creole is now taught in some schools. However, an official orthography has yet to be agreed upon.

Local food and music blend influences from Africa, India, China and Europe.

Réunion population is mostly Francophone blacks, with some Indians and French minorities. Réunion is also, along with neighbor Mauritius, home to sega music. Taarab from Tanzania is popular as well. Other popular singers include Maxime Laope, Léon Céleste, Henri Madoré and Mapou, named after a kind of perfumed sugarcane candy. Séga is a popular style that mixes African rhythms with European instrumentation. Maloya is a similar fusion, but with a strong African element reflected in the use of slave chants and work songs.

The song "Madina" deserves special mention. It was frequently played on the island's only radio station in the 1950s and 60s. The song was written by Maxime Laope, one of the island's most popular singers, and performed by another renowned singer, Henri Madoré.

Nowadays Réunion Island is a fish pond of talented bands such as Ziskakan or Baster

(band). In Réunion there is a very strong jazz community and rock culture is also becoming strong on the island. But whatever is the style of music played, Réunionnais music is defined by its cultural richness.

SPIC MACAY had organised a concert by these guys at IIT in Delhi last August. They had the unmistakable energy of people who are creating something unique. They are an island, not even an island nation, but more a nation than any other I can think of. And yet, their language has no script, no fixed vocabulary, no textbooks, nothing. Creole doesn't look like any language you've ever seen before, because it isn't like any you could have seen. It looks like Garble. Never had I come across a language so fluid, so youthful in its dynamic character. I went to the band and asked them, doubtfully, if they happened to have any recorded music on them. They gave me a beautiful professionally cut and released album, called Banjara, meaning Gypsy or Traveller (in Hindi). They wrote it on the road. I wish I had taken their autographs, I really do. I own a slice of history now; the CD has the lyrics. And French versions or translations as well.

In fact, I was listening to Syklone Valval today and tried transliterating the French version by Serge Ulentin via Babelfish and the results, though not so great, since it is only a word-for-for lexical translator, were surprising. The French (without line spaces for the verses, it's closer to the garbles translation this way) :

À chaque femme ici-bas qu’un chien d’homme bat – Serge Ulentin

Zékli d’ciel En bonbon d’miel L’âme au rasoir D’une ondée de fiel Torrent d’effrois Aux abîmes de soi Nervi à cœur de gnons Oiseau à vol d’émois Des ouragans d’horions Comment adoucir le vent Quels chants naissent Des amours de sang ? Orchidées de santal Aux sacres des lunes Le ventre en mire Aux bals des ires Déliquescentes infamies D’une âme en valval Source des vies En écrins des infinis Les embruns vermeils D’un regard de sang Le vent des sorts Envouv les corps Ramures des cieux En murmures de soie Aux pilons des taba Le crâne en fracas La mort en éclat

There is some poetry in this too, I suppose, this Garble that technology makes:

With each woman ici-bas that a dog of man beats

Glares of candy sky of honey the heart to the razor Of an heavy shower of gall Torrent of fears To the abysses of oneself Bully boy with cœur let us gnons Bird with flight of agitations Hurricanes of let us horions How to soften the wind Which songs are born From the loves of blood? Orchises of sandal To the sacrings of the moons the belly in test card With the balls of the angers Déliquescentes infamies Of a heart in blow given to the flight Source of the lives Out of jewel cases of infinite the spray vermeils Of a glance of blood The wind of the fates Imprisons the bodies Foliages of the skies In murmurs of silk To the rammers of the opera hat the cranium in crash Death in glare

It's something else to get a tiny glimpse of the protean melange that is Réunion. It's on the always-wanted list. I hope it never goes to the always-wanted-never-did list.

This is Ziskakan's homepage

P.S. Someone I know just told me today that she has a paying guest (short-term tenant, usually student or single working type) who is from Mauritius and speaks French Creole, i might go see her soon.