Maloya / Ile de la Réunion

D’une moyenne d’âge de trente ans, les membres de Lindigo regardent donc obstinément le passé. Pour autant, leur démarche ne s’enferme ni dans la nostalgie, ni dans les carcans d’une mémoire stérile. Les fondations servent l’élan, et les racines construisent l’avenir. Leur devise ? « Quand tu sais d’où tu viens, tu sais où tu vas ». Sûrement la raison pour laquelle Lindigo parle aussi bien aux jeunes générations. Aujourd’hui, Olivier et sa bande restent, avec plus de 500 concerts et trois albums à leur actif, l’un des groupes les plus populaires de l’île : ventes de disque au beau fixe, passages en radio, en clubs... Et lorsqu’ils débarquent sur les planches, leur transe jubilatoire, aussi identitaire qu’ouverte sur de nouveaux horizons, contamine inexorablement le public, tous âges confondus.

A glass of rum, a cigarette... In the dressing rooms just before going on stage, Olivier Arasta, the charismatic frontman of the maloya group Lindigo, always leaves a small offering for the Granmouns, the ancestors: a small ritual as a reminder of the roots of the music he performs. When he takes the stage – barefoot, as a token of respect – this musician of Malagasy origin never forgets the servis kabaré, the ritual ceremony in honour of the ancestors. Lindigo's music induces a state of trance. On stage, the eight members of this merry band are never alone: amidst the vocal polyphony and the swirl and tangle of rhythms produced by the pikèr (bamboo idiophone) roulèr (cylindrical drum) and kayamb (rattle), the Granmouns are there, taking part in the festivities. “They give us faith and courage: a very strong feeling, like the taste chilli pepper,” explains Olivier.
With an average age of thirty, the members of Lindigo look persistently to the past, but their approach is neither locked in nostalgia nor caught in the shackles of sterile memory. Such strong foundations give momentum; such roots build up the future. Their motto? “When you know where you come from, you know where you’re going.” Which is surely the reason why Lindigo appeal so much to the younger generations. Today, with over five hundred concerts and three albums under their belt, Lindigo are one of the island’s most popular groups: constantly good sales, appearances on radio, in clubs… And on stage the jubilation of their performance, linked to the past, yet open to new horizons, is inevitably contagious, delighting the audience, composed of people of all ages.