Let’s explore, since we have everything to discover about Eliasse, his music which he describes as zangoma rock, his country of origin, the Comoros, and the message he wants to convey in his forthcoming album: through these songs interpreted in Comorian and, a little, in French, “I try to tell myself, and by extension, to tell my country”.
“I talk about politics, which results in a lot of things, confirms Eliasse. Everyday life, peace, human relations”, drawing inspiration in particular from events that take place at the intersection of politics and living together and which the musician has agreed to discuss with The dutyahead of his concert on Thursday, on the bill for the 37e edition of the International Festival Nuits d’Afrique.
The Festival therefore receives rare visitors: the singer-songwriter is from the Comoros, a tiny archipelago of just over a million inhabitants, bathing in the Indian Ocean between the east coast of the African continent and Madagascar. The former French colony, which gained independence in 1975, is one of those remote places on the globe that we never talk about on the news, except on the rare occasions when things are happening.
This is unfortunately the case today: the neighboring island of Mayotte (a French overseas department, population of 310,000 inhabitants) has been expelling from its territory for three months undocumented immigrants occupying the Talus 2 district of coastal village of Majicavo Koropa. Nearly 2,000 gendarmes implemented the operation called “Wuambushu”, rolling bulldozers to raze makeshift dwellings, sending dozens of its inhabitants back to the Comoros, where the vast majority come from.
The gesture, denounced by Human Rights Watch, obviously poisons relations between Paris and Moroni, capital of the Comoros. He tears the Mahorais and the Comorians: “They are not neighbors, the Mahorais, they are brothers and sisters, above all”, affirms Eliasse. ” We are together. We speak the same dialect, we eat the same dishes, there are a lot of marriages between us. I am simply saying: it is an archipelago, Mayotte and the Comoros. »
An archipelago that has a unique musical culture due to the mix of its cultural roots, as well as a music that has its own color, explains Eliasse, “because we are a very mixed people. Everyone came to us with a rucksack”, carrying their traditions, their rhythms imported from Madagascar, Arabs, East Africa. “We have a lot of rhythms, which come from everywhere – like the twarab, originating in the Arab world, having passed through Zanzibar [on l’appelle taarab], And so on. Like many things, languages travel, transform, creole, music too. By becoming creolized, it becomes unique to my little country. »
The taste of travel
It remains to make it travel, this music. Shortly before him have done it: there is the singer Maalesh first, the first inspiration of Eliasse, who accompanied the artist (until now, about fifteen years ago) on stage in the role of percussionist. The pioneer Nawal, “one of the first women to have dared to go on stage to play the guitar and sing her songs”. The rocker Baco, originally from Mahorais, another great inspiration for the musical style adopted by Eliasse: “He had taken this rock, blues and reggae direction, but integrating the traditional rhythms of our culture. And it was he who invented the name zangoma, a generic word carrying all these musical influences, these interbreeding. »
It’s his turn to make us discover the colors of the music of the Comoros. This is Eliasse’s mission – but not his responsibility, he specifies: “Ambassador, me? I don’t think about that. Because I tell myself that I must first be an ambassador for myself, that is to say, take the stage in front of people who don’t understand what I’m saying. I have 90 minutes to spend with an audience, I want them to enjoy it. The musician will show up on the stage of the Balattou club, accompanied by two other musicians recruited in France where he has lived for eight years.
Like many things, languages travel, transform, creole, music too. By becoming creolized, it becomes unique to my little country.
He left his native island out of a taste for travel and, as Maalash did, to first address the public elsewhere. “I was aiming for bigger. We generally like that our compatriots follow us in concert, reassure us in our approach, but for me, it was the opposite: winning over the original Comorian public, it’s only today that I do it. »
Arriving in France eight years ago, rather than trying to find his place on stage, Eliasse chose to learn the trade of baker: “I had decided to take a break from music. To reassure me, perhaps? I told myself that I had to learn to do something with my hands, to learn a “real” job. Today, I still consider myself a baker, since I say that on stage I make bread from my songs. »
Eliasse will perform on July 13, at 8:30 p.m., at the Balattou club, on the bill of the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique.