Maloya Power

Lindigo were the talk of the recent Australasian World Music Expo (AWME), where their show-stopping turn prompted double-takes from seasoned delegates and had an up-for-it crowd roaring their approval. Hailing from La Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, and with influences ranging from Brazil and West Africa to the politicised Afro-beat of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Lindigo have proved a force to be reckoned with.

This inventive fourth studio album should bring them the international kudos they deserve. Laden with the grooves of maloya – Réunion’s bluesy, percussion-driven music, with its rattles, drums and bamboo idiophones – and buoyed by the Creole lyrics of sonorous front man Olivier (Harry) Araste, Maloya Power is both a celebration of a musical style and a testament to Lindigo’s often breathtaking inventiveness. Maloya was banned in Réunion until the 1980s because of its associations with Creole culture. Right from the rousing opener ‘Bal Gayer’ – a cornucopia of drumming, shaking and Santería-style call-and-responses – to the fabulously infectious title-track, Lindigo keep things celebratory and forward-looking. This is protest music with its swag on. The addition of the kamalengoni and balafon draws attention to, and enhances, the African roots of maloya (which arguably embraced sacred drumming in Tamil religious festivals as well). ‘Lamour’, one of the record’s more singular tracks, puts accordion and the Moroccan gimbri bass lute (courtesy of Frenchman, and honorary Gnawa, Loy Ehrlich) alongside dramatic vocals and choruses to fabulously trance-like effect.