interview with Maxime Rosalba

Maxime Rosalba plays bass guitar, keyboard and percussion. As well as his own band Kool is I, he plays bass guitar with lionspiritmusic in Mauritius. Maxime has joined us in Scotland for the summer and I took the opportunity to ask him a few music questions...

Q: what kind of music do you play?

Maxime: I specialise in reggae and seggae.

Q: we all know and love reggae music, but what is seggae?

Maxime: Seggae is the music that has been created in Mauritius mixing the traditional segga music with reggae.

Q: you have brought over from Mauritius two traditional percussion instruments, what are they?

Maxime: the ravanne and the maravanne. 

Maxime with the ravanne

The ravanne is a flat drum traditionally made from wood and goat skin and played vertically with the hands. I have brought a modern version made with new materials as the traditional skin ravanne has to be heated over a fire before it is played.

I have also brought over a maravanne. The maravanne is traditionally made from the stalk of the sugar cane flower which is filled with the seeds of a tree. The seeds of different trees will produce different sounds.

Mike playing the maravvane

 thanks Maxime...mari serye!