All great musical forms emerge from human struggle. A small island to the East of Madagascar, off the East African coastline, carries within it similar stories of displaced communities and their struggle for identity. This struggle found expression in the form of Maloyan music sung in the Creole language. Tomorrow at an event organised by Alliance Francaise de Bombay, the Reunionese band, Ziskakan, will present a taste to Mumbaikars at a Marine Lines venue.

The name of the band translates to ‘Until when’ in the dialect. It is a direct reference to the struggle that preceded the beauty of music. Founder and guitarist, Gilbert Pounia, formed the band in 1979, and knows the struggle better than anyone. “Creole, as a language, was not taught at school. It was the language of the oppressed, so it came out through poetry and music as a form of expression,” he tells us over a phone call from Guwahati.