Santié Papang

Few female vocalists have successfully ventured into La Réunion's politically-charged maloya music. The Indian Ocean blues was initially banned by France before being immortalised by Danyèl Waro and the group Ziskakan. Natalie Natiembé and Leila Négrau have been the female standard bearers but they are now set to share centre stage with a singer of rare pedigree. Some 35 years after her father, Gilbert Pounia, co-founded Ziskakan, Maya Kamaty has brought out an album of startling maturity, displaying vocals that can shimmer and caress or erupt provocatively. Kamaty shows herself adept at modernising the sega and maloya rhythms forged on her island while retaining the traditional instruments they are built on. Her songs, concerning domestic violence, youth culture and the private dreams of a young girl, manifest the creative streak her poet-mother passed down.

Ironically, it was during her time in Montpellier in southern France that Kamaty discovered her vocation and musical traditions. The only time she wavers is in her interpretation of two ballads written for her in French by Mauritian poet Michel Ducasse. The rest fully justifies the pundits who are praising her as the new face of maloya.