INSIDE MAURITIUS THE ART OF DISCOVERY 54 Night will soon be upon us. On the Albion beach, the Abaim “children” stand in a circle around a huge bonfire and warm up the goat skin of their instruments. On the shores of the lagoon, the ravanne drums start up, each listening for the others, then come together like one heart beating in unison. The beat soon covers the roar of the waves on the reef. The maravannes (sugar cane flower stems filled with seeds) rustle like the waves, while the tinkling triangles mark the off beats. The bodies and the petticoats wave to a ternary beat. The singing and the onomatopoeic choule call to the night. “Down, down!” shouts Krys to Shaniza. Face to face, the two dancers gradually sink to their knees while leaning far back, arms out straight. The cries fly from all sides. Eli-e-la-ela-e. The bodies writhe back and forth, then in a circle, hips rolling. This is the climax of the dance. The darkness thickens. Nothing else holds back the beat. Or perhaps, unexpectedly, a sharp, clear sound, from inside the ravannes, which suddenly stops the music. Instantly, the bodies are still. On the edge of the void, they hold their breath until the drums start up again, drunk with their power. The intensity increases. In the syncopated chants, in the bodies that circle each other but never touch, calling to each other, then slipping away, in the phrasing and the cries that ignite the moment, a vivid, burning memory arises: the link between past and present. 1, 2 and 3 : Alain Muneean, co-founder in 1982 of the NGO Abaim, and Marousia Bouvery, director of the eponymous music group, run Lekol Ravann, in Barkly, Beau Bassin. Alain Muneean, co-fondateur en 1982 de l’ONG Abaim, et Marousia Bouvery, directrice du groupe musical éponyme, dirigent Lekol Ravann, à Barkly, Beau Bassin. 1 2
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