France / Réunion Island

// BIOGRAPHY

Madia fell into the rice pot of maloya when he was 11 years old when he joined the group of the legendary Gramoun Lélé, his uncle. Later, he joined the CRR to follow, for 8 years, the teaching of percussionists Jean-Luc Ceddaha and Nicolas Moucazambo, who introduced him to African rhythmic languages. After completing his training in metropolitan France, and discovering and working on the kamele n’goni, Madia multiplies collaborations on the island (Gramoun Sello, Grèn Semé, Tiloun, Votia…) and plays with his cousins Urbain and Willy Philéas in their respective groups. In 2002, he accompanies again Gramoun Lélé in his last tours. From 2006 to 2021, as a multi-instrumentalist with the group Lindigo, he toured internationally, meeting new people and collaborating with others; he played with Matthieu Chedid, Yarol Poupaud and Los Munequitos de Matanzaz, and recorded with Winston McAnuff & Fixi (Jamaica), Skip&Die (South Africa), P achibaba (Reunion Island) and Blakkayo (Mauritius). The time has come for Madia to present her own compositions, within her own formation. The project has been matured for a long time; he will propose a music at the crossroads of the Reunionese maloya and the Mandingo music, his two main musical influences. He created MADIAKANOU, a variable geometry band around a “Mandingo maloya” repertoire.

The traditional instruments of maloya (roulèr, kayanm, sati, pikèr, bobre, triyang) rub shoulders with those of Mandingo music (balafon, kamélé n’goni, dun un, djembé, djabara…); the electric bass enriches the groove, Madia provides lead vocals, and all the musicians are backing singers. Between evocation of the marronnage and celebration of the joy of living, between energy of the maloya of the east of Reunion, blues of the Indian Ocean and mandingo groove…

Madia has associated the services of “Tonton” percussionist and singer Harry Périgone, notably heard alongside Danyèl Waro, Ziskakan, Bastèr, Dav y Sicard or Christine Salem, the balafonist Anas Mall, trained with Soumana Konaté, Aly Keita and Sory Diabaté, and a few talented representatives of a new generation of Reunionese musicians trained on the stages of the island and in the Afro-Cuban percussion classes of the CRR.