the musical selection from “World Africa” #202

Every Friday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. This week, we offer you a trip to the islands of the Indian Ocean with the Franco-Mauritian collective AyoZaad, the Malagasy group The Dizzy Brains and the Mahorese singer Zily.

« Amen Amwin », d’Come on

It’s a tasty mix of electronic music, traditional Mascarene rhythms, pop and soul that the AyoZaad collective has been offering since Friday September 27 as a prelude to its future album. With the single Amen Amen, this « dream team” made up of artists from Mauritius and Reunion Island – producer Ribongia, drummer Jason Heerah, singer Bastien Picot, multi-instrumentalist Manu Desroches and singers Emlyn Marimutu and Ophélie Satuer – immerses us in the richness of the Indian Ocean, crossed by influences from Africa, India and Europe. Highly sensual music, like the accompanying clip. We are impatiently waiting for what comes next.

“Tsimanetsa”, Dec Dizzy Brains

Change of atmosphere with The Dizzy Brains. The Malagasy group released its fourth album at the end of September, Seeing Eye (“Open eyes”, in Malagasy), in which he delivers twelve pieces of furiously committed garage rock. Although the opus was entirely conceived in the apparent softness of the island of Nosy Be – a well-known destination for tourists, off the northwest coast of Madagascar – the quartet restores all the harshness and injustices to which the inhabitants of the Big Island are subjected, faced with hunger and poverty. As in the song Tsimanetsa, where the singer, Eddy Andrianarisoa, bluntly denounces the deadly divisions born from the political ambitions of Malagasy leaders.

“Bazuka”, yes Zily

Finally, head to the French island of Mayotte, in the Comoros archipelago, with singer Zily, who unveiled the single in July Bazuka. Under a warlike appearance, this heady piece is in fact an evocation of a childhood game of the Mahorais, in which a piece of bamboo and seeds served as a weapon and ammunition. Known for her commitment to women and the cultures of the Indian Ocean, Zily was named “favorite” of the Francofolies de La Réunion in September, where festival-goers were able to vibrate to the rhythm of her music fusing traditional sounds and Afropop . The artist was the subject of a documentary, Ndzozi, the dreams of Zily, available on the France Télévisions website.