With origins in the music of local slaves, maloya features percussion instruments and call-response singing, and its performance was banned for many years. However, over the past half century it has become an integral part of Réunion's consciousness, and was placed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.
Danyèl Waro was born in 1955 from black, white and Indian ancestors, and has played a key role in reviving the maloya tradition since the 1970s. In his songs that decry social injustices, the WOMEX award-winning artist accompanies his Creole-language lyrics with instruments of his own making, including the stringed bobre, made from a calabash, as well as percussion instruments like the kayamb, roulèr and pikèr.A selection of his song Mandela can be heard in a Kanye West remix of Beyoncé and Jaz-Z's 2013 hit, Drunk in Love.
Ann O'aro, now in her late 20s, uses maloya as a means of processing the trauma caused by her father who raped her and later committed suicide. Her untitled 2018 début album features Creole and French language songs accompanied by wind and percussion instruments.
