AMAR (Association Musique Artisanat Réunion)

For oven ten years, AMAR association has been promoting and working to preserve cultural heritage of Reunion Island. To realize its philosophic aim of transmission, the association organizes workshops, exhibitions, conference and Maloya concert of Groove Lélé.

The group Groove Lélé has been founded by the sons of Granmoun Lélé (called «Pépé Dynamite»), musical icon of Maloya (his music has been described by musicologists as a mixture of traditional music from Zanzibar, Mozambique, Somalia, Madagascar), a traditional style based essentially on voice and percussions.

As the music of the slave riots and the slaves’ descendants, Maloya was for a long time only played secretly and connected with the fighters for independence. Granmoun Lélé, who died in 2004 at the age of 74, composed over 200 songs and, playing all over the world with his family, became an important figure in the musical culture of his island . Four of his sons, Willy, Urbain, Marie-Claude and Béatrice Philéas, decided to carry on the Maloya and formed the group called Groove Lélé.
In 2008 they received the prestigious Alain Peters award. On October 2009 Maloya became part of UNESCO’s world heritage list.

Their last project «Zembrocal Musical», with the Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and the Senegalese singer Mola Sylla, has been nominated for Trophée des arts afro caribéens 2010 (TAAC) as best album and best group

Zembrocal Musical will be on tour in 2011