Imagine that you are on the beach around a bonfire at night. There is a cool breeze rustling through the filao trees as you savour some mouth watering sea delicacies- Lobster, Crab, Squid or fish. Suddenly out of the blues you hear a loud noise. Awed, you cast a glance around to find unexpected guests. They are all dressed in the flowery garments of the tropical island and they start dancing and singing .

That is Sega for you, a Mauritian folk dance. Located in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is one of the Mascarene Islands, the others being Reunion and Rodrigues Islands, all of volcanic origin. Mauritian traditional dance is Sega Ravanne, which has an accentuated beat compared to the dances of the other islands. Sega has been in existence for ages. Its origins can be traced to the early slaves who were brought to work in the Island. It is rumored that they had been lured into coming to the Islands with the prospects of finding gold.

Thus Sega came into being when after a hard day of labor, the slaves would gather around a bonfire and sing away their misery, share their grief and pitiable position on the Island. They used their hand made instruments now known as Ravanne, Triangle and Tambour. The avanne is a goat skin drawn taut over a circle of wood to make a flat drum.

The Maravane is a kind of hanging rattle; branches of sugarcane flowers or a metal leaf perforated with tiny holes are fixed to a wooden rectangular frame. Grains or little pebbles are placed inside the rattle and sounded by moving it from side to side. The triangle is a classical instrument, a little iron rod which strikes the three sides of the triangle, in

Creole, the mother tongue of the Mauritians.

With the passage of time, however, the mournful tunes turned into some of the most joyful rhyme sung with vibrant music. In its modern form, Sega is also combined with other genres like Zouk, Reggae amongst others. It resembles the folk dance form of the Reunion Island and Maloya .

Indeed one of the reasons for the increase in number of tourists to Mauritius is Sega. People travel from every part of the world in order to of French words. Sega dancers usually dance in pairs if not then a minimum of three females and a male. The females are usually dressed in bra like tops imprinted with floral designs. The dress is usually of very bright colors such as orange, yellow pink etc. They wear long floating skirts which they constantly turn along to the beats of the music. They dance barefooted and wear big flowers in their hair. The men wear matching shirts which they usually tie into a knot near their navels and shorts. They wear straw hats to enhance the beauty of their attire and this makes the setting very colorful indeed. The musicians complete the group in the background wearing matching colors.

After the show, the audience is invited to dance along and this is the most awaited part by the tourists since they are all eager to learn Sega dance. The songs are mostly about the island. The fishermen, farmers, lovers etc. Nowadays, Sega is practically known worldwide. It is even featured in some of the international top charts and has met with great oppreciation along with Bhojpuri music, another prominent music of the Island. Thus when you get an opportunity to make a trip, Mauritius beckons. Sega awaits all music lovers.

Taresha Bissoo

BA (Journo, Psy & Eng)