Maloya Malbar

Is La Réunion the new Cuba? Just as the music of the latter pulsed ubiquitously through the late 90s and 2000s, gifting us a stream of good vibes (as did the music of every nation with rhythm in its DNA), so have the sounds of Réunion Island come at us through the 2010s until now. Props to the fabulous Sakifo Musik Festival, which since 2004 has platformed artists informed by the centuries of history and creative possibilities of Réunion's two main genres – sega and maloya – and piqued the interest of the world in the process.

Still, don't mention the word ‘tradition’ to Zéne’T Panon, a six-strong collective from Réunion's lush eastern coast. Their version of maloya (with its Creole chants and tray-like kayanm percussion instrument) not only comes invested with the rhythms of the Tamil (Malbar) ethnic group (played out on morlon, tarlon and malbar drums) but with the transformative fluidity typical of both Creole cultures and the electronic music scene. With its old school spiritualism and left-field BPMs, Maloya Malbar is a bridge between both, with tracks showcasing the rich call-and-response typical of private kabaré ceremonies side-by-side with remixes by several producers at the vanguard of electro maloya. An ancient-to-future gem.