Aou Amwin

A life dedicated to maloya music and an approach that has allowed a music to evolve within the traditional acoustic format has produced an excellent new double album from Danyèl Waro.

Aou Amwin (From You to Me) is a production that features seamless transitions between tracks with different musical settings that showcase Waro's performances. He moves between speaking his poetry, singing unaccompanied and performing with drum ensembles. He sings in harmony with his band and with beautiful choral arrangements from the Corsican polyphonic group A Filetta, who bring a religious devotional quality to Waro's music. You can never tell what will come next on this album. There is a unique atmosphere and a wonderful sense of continuity that makes it more than just a collection of musical tracks and closer to a musical journey. Waro's maloya is continuously changing. All the familiar maloya drums, shakers and instruments are featured, including the kayamb, roulér, piker, malbar and the bobre musical bow, which features on the track ‘Voulvoul’ and really gives musical credibility to the idea of maloya being related to the blues.

Waro's songs are political, moody and sung exclusively in Creole, with the exception of ‘Mandela’, which features Tumi Molékane (of the South African group Tumi and the Volume) speaking Waro's lyrics in English. The Creole language may be difficult for outsiders to understand, but Waro's latest collaborative album is in a class of its own – it's his best so far.