The Devil Made Her Do It: Christine Salem featuring Moriarty with "Sakalav"

Christine Salem, from the island of Réunion, performs our random tune for today. Réunion is a French terroritory in the Indian Ocean about 120 miles southeast of Mauritius. Salem's music centers around "maloya," the traditional music made up of work songs and chants of the former African slaves of the island. These songs are percussion driven and of the call and response type and are often used to induce a trance where one communes with their ancestors in a musical gathering called "servis kabaré". The music was illegal on the island until 1981, as it was considered by the Catholic Church to be "devil's music" and by the authorities as a political threat. In fact, a woman singing this type of music upset some of the older generation, because it was also generally seen as "men's music." Salem came upon the music while attending a servis kabaré, and she became hooked. She has received international acclaim for her music, and has performed at WOMAD. This song, Sakalav, can be found on her 2013 CD Salem Tradition. She is accompanied on the song by Moriarty, a French/American musical collective made up of performers born in France to American parents. The band is named after Dean Moriarty, a character in Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: http://www.christinesalem.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriarty_(band)