Traditional / folk music of Seychelles

The Republic of Seychelles consists of 116 islands in Indian Ocean near mainland of Africa. It has smallest population between the African countries. The country has a hot and humid climate during the year. Seychelles consist of many different ethnic groups. Common religions are Catholic, Anglican, Islam and even Hindu. The country had been under the colonization of French. Seychelles achieved independence from French on 1976.

Seychelles does not have folk music belong to its indigenous tradition. What is has, is traditional music from many different ethnic group imported to the islands. Of course African music and culture is dominant, but there are also traits of Indians, British, French, Mauritian and also Polynesian. This can be observed in their dance named “Montea”.

One of the common type of folk music in Seychelles is Contombley or Kanmtole. It is a complex form of percussion music. Sega is another type of folk music which comes from Mauritania and it has lots of sub-genres. Originally it was the music of slaves and it was sung in creole. In traditional way it has lots of improvisation and it is very emotional and expressive. In the dance of sega, the feet never leave the ground and just the body moves. In Seyechelles, sega is called Moutya or Montea.In seyechelles, sega dance performed slower and it is not as fast as Mauritanian one. It is also influenced by western ballads, and today it is also influenced by hip-hop, reggae and pop.

As it is mentioned before, Seychelle is a complex imported ethnic groups, so other form of folk music from different ethnic groups can be seen, for example taarab which is originaly from Tanzania and many European genres like English contradance, polka and mazurka.

The music instruments which are used in folk music of Seychelles are violin, banjo, acoustic guitar, Accordion, Triangle and drums.

In the traditional bands, Triangle played by the Master which is known as ‘Komander’ (Commander). He gives dance commands to the dancer rather than the musical direction to the band players.

If you have more information about the folk music of Seychelle, please kindly let us know through the contact us page. If you know some traditional songs, you can send it from “Post a song” link in the top menu. If you see something wrong in the tags of list below, please kindly let us know.