Phileas Urbain rocks at the Fez Festival

Phileas Urbain

Phileas Urbain and his group from Reunion and Madagascar had the audience on their feet at the Batha Museum's afternoon concert. Entitled Voice of the Ancestors, the concert showcased the music of both these Indian Ocean islands; Reunion with its mixture of Africans, Indians, Asians, Arabs and Europeans and Madagascar with its strong possession rituals and ancestor worship.

Some wild dancing on stage

The nine-piece band featured various drums and other percussion, including three energetic dancers. The music is known as maloya, meaning in Malagasy to speak out as in a protest song, and was originally sung by slaves who were homesick or maltreated by their owners. Long banned by these owners, the music almost disappeared, but was resurrected some forty years ago.

...and dancing off stage !

The atmosphere at the Batha Museum was electric as Urbain encouraged clapping and singing along, and within a short time had most of the audience dancing to the irrepressible beat.

Note Click on images to enlarge