sega

Sega (French: séga) is one of the major music genres of Mauritius and Réunion. It is a complete performance art, involving music, story-telling and traditional dance. Musically, the most modern forms common in Mauritius are its fusion genre seggae and bhojpuri variations, whilst Réunion also features maloya, the latter being much closer to the older, typical music influences originating from Madagascar. The variety of different sega forms is reflected in the multi-ethnic populous of the indigenous population of Mauritius. Sega (traditional Mauritian sega, sega tambour Chagos, sega tambour of Rodrigues Island) has been included in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists. Sega has its roots in the music of slaves as well as their descendants Mauritian Creole people and is usually sung in Mauritian Creole or Réunionese Creole. Sega is also popular on the islands of Agaléga and Rodrigues as well as Seychelles, though the music and dances differ and it is sung in these islands' respective creole languages. In the past, sega music focused on traditional percussion instruments such as the ravanne and the triangle, it was sung to protest against injustices in the Mauritian society, this particular version of sega is known as Santé engagé. ²

The music's traditional form was largely improvised and intensely emotional and expressed the tribulations of a subjugated, initially enslaved, people. It is primarily music to dance to but was also used for dirges and as part of traditional exorcisms. ²

Traditional instruments include: ²

the maravanne (rattle) moutia (hand drum) the goatskin drum ravanne triangle and the bobre (bow). There is also the tantam, which is a stringed instrument consisting of a gourd with a bow attached, played in time to the drum. Nowadays, electric guitars and keyboards are used. ²

The lyrics of modern sega music usually relate to the lives of the inhabitants; they do not usually relate to the musicians' ancestral homeland. ²

Sega is danced without the feet ever leaving the ground. Instead, the rest of the body moves, with an emphasis on the hips and waist. For women this involves the use of large, colourful, circular skirts and short sleeved, sleeveless or off the shoulder tops, baring the midriff (belly), to accentuate their moves. Traditionally, men wear colourful shirts and shorts and straw hats are popular in the ancient styles. ²

Sega music originated among the slave populations of Mauritius and Réunion and later spread throughout the Seychelles. It is usually in 68 meter and has an associated dance form. Sega's exact origins outside the islands are unknown. However, it is understood to have Afro-Malagasy roots and be a fusion of African or Malagasy music with European music. The European influence includes folk dance music like polka, waltz and quadrilles. Gatan Benoit suggested that sega came from Madagascar and Boswell notes there may be a link between sega and famadihana, a Merina death ritual. Arago instead identifies it with (t)chéga from Mozambique. He states that it is similar to the fandango and chica (dance) from Brazil whose origins are in African music from Mozambique and Angola. It was termed "African" by sega musician Jacques Cantin. ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sega (genre)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

sega is music genre of Mauritius and Reunion island, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 7 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹