The kabare Seychellois is an informal musical and festive gathering that was held in private homes. These homes were most of the time located in small villages, locally referred to as dan kanton (Fr. dans Canton) or danleo (Fr. dans le haut).
Before the advent of disco music and electrical music instruments the kabare together with Kanmtole were the only two types of organised indoor dancing events that were featured in Seychelles.
Kabare and Class system
Kabare (pronounced kabaré) was associated with the working class as opposed to the kanmtole that was initially associated with the landowners and then ultimately danced by everyone.
Kabare Seychellois was a ‘ladans salon’ (an indoor dance) organised by the owner of the house or his or her associates. In most cases there were no invitations. The gathering was promoted through words of mouth and guests just turned up. Entry was paid and beverages including toddy or kalou, jungle juice or lapire and fermented cane juice, or baka, were either sold at the venue or brought in by the attendees.
The music and dances
Kanmtole music was the only music that was performed at the kabare and this was performed by a kanmtole band. The kanmtole is a Seychellois creole term used to describe the creolised version of the European ballroom dances that were introduced to the Seychelles through Réunion Island. These dances include the waltz –vals; the scottish –kotis-, including single, double or sliding scottish-kotis senp, doub or en glisan-; the polka; the mazurka –mazok-, the Ecossaise –kosez-; pas de quatre –padkat; and ‘Jazz‘. They are known as Ladans senp, which literally means simple dances. This is because they are predominantly accompanied by instrumental music and usually follow a predetermined order. Kanmtole also include the contredanse-kontredans– and the sega.
The gathering would start around 7 pm and end in the early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, we have lost forever the excitement of going to and partaking in a kabare.
How did we inherit Kabare?
We definitely inherited the kabare from the Island of Réunion, then known as Île Bourbon. But where does it originate? Is it derived from Cabaret, Service Kabaré or Kabar?
Let us look at these three possibilities in some detail.
Cabaret
Cabaret first appeared in Paris around at least the late fifteenth century. Initially, they were not particularly associated with entertainment even if sometimes there were performances by musicians. They were frequently used as meeting places for writers, actors, friends, and artists. For example, in 1773 French poets, painters, musicians and writers began to meet in a cabaret called ‘Le Caveau’ on rue de Buci, where they composed and sang songs. ‘Le Caveau’ continued until 1816, when it was forced to close because its clients wrote songs mocking the royal government.
In the 18th century the ‘café-concert’ or ‘café-chantant’ started to appear, which offered food along with music, singers, or magicians. Consequently cabaret, apart from being only a venue, also became a performance which can feature music, songs, dance, recitation, or drama.
Although started to be in vogue in Paris in the 1800s, it appears that Cabaret, as a venue or as a performance, was not introduced into Réunion Island, then called Île Bourbon, until the 1900s. There may be because most of the population of the island were hardworking landowners and slaves and there were few writers, singers, magicians in these early days.
Service Kabaré
‘Servis Kabaré’ which comes from the Malagasy culture is now an integral part of the Réunion culture. It is a ritual, also known as the “dance of the spirits,” that glorifies the spirits of the departed ancestors.
Originally, it was the Malagasy slaves who organized the ‘service kabaré’ which are celebrations in honour of the ancestors or to facilitate harvesting. This cult ceremony, where they sang their sorrows, was re-enacted almost in secret by the slaves who believed that the spirits of their ancestors have the power to give grace, or not, to their descendants and to “light their way”. For these uprooted and desocialised men and women, this rite allowed them to keep a link with the lost land while remaining in communion with the spirit of their ancestors.
The ‘service kabaré ’ ceremony is still held in Réunion. “Le servis kabaré de Mme Baba” (1ère partie) is a typical example. Link below:
The ceremony consists of offerings made to the spirits. These offerings often consist of rice, grains, curries and ‘rougails’ laid out “under the table” for the spirits. Integral parts of the ceremony are music, dancing, singing and sometimes Moraingy (Malagasy) or Moringue (French)
The music played at the ceremony depends a lot on percussion, and is mostly made up of maloya, although the sega can also be represented.
Once the meal is ready, it is served to the ancestors, in the ‘boukan’ (small hut where the altar of the gods and ancestors are located). This is then followed by dancing and prayer songs. To the tunes of maloya and traditional Malagasy songs, spirits are invited to come forward. The ‘ Service Kabaré ‘will be in full swing all night in a festive atmosphere.
The maloya and service Kabaré
Originally, the celebration of a ‘service kabaré’ followed the Malagasy ritual procedures of the kabary tsikafara, “the speech of thanks”, present among the Betsimisaraka. The speech was progressively replaced by its sung form, the maloya. In fact, it is argued that ‘kabaré’ was formerly synonymous with maloya. The reason the music and drumming were played all night long was to make the ancestors dance through the body of initiates they possessed.
The video below (in French and Réunion Creéole) explains the relationship between maloya and service kabaré
Kabar
The term“ kabar” comes from the Malagasy word ‘kabary ‘(or ‘kabaro/kabari’ depending on the regions of Madagascar) which originally designates the press releases that the Malagasy head of state or his representative sent to the spokesperson of the people. Thanks to the ‘kabary’, the population was thus informed of political life and of the decisions taken by the royal administration. There was then a kind of dialogue established between the two parties, through their representative.
Subsequently, while retaining this symbolism of announcement and exchange, the ‘kabary’ became an occasion where all the activities of the population of a village or a district were discussed. It was like a public assembly. By derivative, it is also used as a marker of the various stages of life, such as weddings, funerals, exhumations … For this, it is performed in the form of a structured speech (preamble, apologies, greetings etc. ), delivered during the family ceremonies.
The ‘kabary’ of a wedding, for example, is a dialogue between the spokesperson of the fiancé’s family and that of the parents of the young girl.
The ceremony was enriched by the maloya, sung by the slaves to translate their misery and to communicate between themselves. This is how the Réunionese Kabar took on the influences of all the religious and cultural rites of the island to become the very symbol of the celebration of the liberation of slaves and to be today a cultural manifestation of Réunion.
These two extracts below shed some more light on the term:
‘Comme tous les noirs, les Malgaches aiment à parler et à chanter. Leurs Kabars, conférences populaires où l ’on est censé examiner et discuter les décisions à prendre, ne sont le plus souvent que de grands commérages. La conversation fait les délices du Malgache, écrit M. Henry d ’Escamps, et il causera long temps des choses les plus futiles….’
Below is an extract from: Aux colonies Impressions et Opinions, ch . Hoarau des Ruisseaux, Inspecteurs général des colonies.
Un kabar (grande assemblée) fut convoqué ; on y vint de toutes les parties de l’île et, après les cérémonies traditionnelles, dont aucune ne fut omise, Benyowski fut reconnu et proclamé Ampamsacabé. — (« Madagascar », dans Les colonies françaises, sous la direction de Louis Henrique, tome 1, Paris : Maison Quantin, 1889, p. 224)
The modern definition of Kabar in Réunion
A kabar in Réunion Island refers to a gathering of people who intend to play and dance maloya. It is during these gatherings that the oldest members teach the young, giving them an opportunity to learn how to sing maloya.
These kabars are usually organized for family celebrations, end-of-year celebrations and other festive events. They can be held in someone’s courtyard or home, or in a public area around a bonfire. Today, on the Réunion Island, a Kabar has become a musical and festive gathering, where maloya and to a lesser extent the sega are sang and danced.
Every year in Réunion, December 20 is a public holiday where a kabar is held to celebrate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in 1848. The Réunionese call this day the “Fèt Kaf”.
Traditionally, it is around a large fire that the Réunionese celebrate the abolition of slavery, around which they dance and sing to the sound of traditional music.
From where did we inherit the Kabare Seychellois ?
Was it from Cabaret?
Although there are many common elements between the Cabarets, Service Kabaré and Kabar, including alcohol, music and entertainment in general, I tend to believe that the French Cabaret made no contribution towards the kabare Seychellois . This is because the cabaret was associated with the French elites and held in a specific venue and in the early days of settlement, we did not have many elites, if any, in the community.
Was it from Service Kabaré or from Kabar?
Did we therefore inherit our kabare Seychellois from ‘Service Kabaré’ whereby, the cult ceremony became a musical and festive gathering? When answering this question bear in mind that there is a possibility that the ‘Service kabaré’, when introduced to Seychelles, became known as ‘pipili’.’ Pipili’ was a disorderly social gathering revolving around the moutya dance. In early days of settlement pipili (pile pile dance performed in open air) was an invocation whereby a domesticated animal, (mainly poultry) was killed and offered to ancestors. A ceremony which is closely related to the Service Kabaré and which, through religious pressure, was gradually mellowed and transformed into a loud disorderly social gathering or street party as we know it today.
Was it from Kabar?
Or, could it be that our kabare Seychellois originated solely from ‘Kabar’ whereby the traditional Malagasy ceremony was creolised and enriched by the addition of sega and kanmtole music and moved away from being a village gathering to a purely musical event?
Was it from a fusion of Service Kabaré and Kabar?
Or, could it even be that our kabare Seychellois was born out of a fusion and refinement of both Kabar and Service Kabaré? It would be great if any Seychellois ethnomusicologist could shed some light here.
The future of Kabare
Unfortunately, the kabare Seychellois has sadly disappeared as a form of social gathering. The change that has occurred in our society is not conducive to this type of gathering.
Sources
- A Créolisation Réunionnaise Telle Qu’entendue Depuis Sa Musique Traditionnelle- Benjamin Lagarde
- A Madagascar Anciennes Croyances Et Coutumes Par M. G. Grandidier.
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