World Music

Christine Salem At the TEAT Champ Fleuri, Saint Denis

With her boyish manner, street accent and her high-top sneakers, Christine Salem looks more like a young hip-hop hope from Harlem than a singer of traditional music from La Réunion. She is one of the rare female voices of Maloya, the blues that has been passed down from the slaves. She is also one of the most unexpected, with her deep, androgynous timbre, her bewitching flow and her lyrics brimming with a furious bitterness. “Maloya is not just folklore in a big Haitian dress,” claims the forty-year-old with the insolent gaze, “It’s a music of its own, modern, that carries the message of our claims to identity.”  Musicians Christine Salem Ary Perrigone David Abrousse Seb Martel Music Walé Dada Tapaz Malengé Bwar in kou Bondié Mi larg'ra pa lo kor larg pa lo kor Mama don't give up Mandela Lolilola