Moris Zekler: Fuzz & Soul Sega from 70's Mauritius

Approfondimenti

In the Indian Ocean (or rather on its islands), one sega can hide another. This Creole dance music is sometimes played in traditional costume on traditional instruments, a bit like a postcard. But in the 70s, a new form of creolisation emerged: the sega of rockers, long-haired youngsters in flares with electric guitars. For a handful of years, record diggers from all over the world have been exploiting this vein. It started in 2016 with the Soul Sok Sega compilation by the English label Strut, then the two Soul Sega Sa! compilations from the Swiss label Bongo Joe. And now it’s the French label Born Bad Records’s turn to bring Mauritius to the fishing ground for old electric sega singles. The traditional instrument of the Mauritian sega is the ravanne, a large goatskin drum which is often used for the typical ternary rhythms. On Moris Zekler’s thirteen tracks, you can still hear the ravanne rhythm, but it becomes a crowded dance floor where psychedelic guitars and electric organs go wild. Mixed with a western style (rock, soul, funk), this sega remains a rustic, sticky, often melancholic and offbeat tropical music, which always seems to have been recorded in the open air under a blazing sun rather than in an air-conditioned studio. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz