Gramoun Bébé

Traditional maloya singer Louis-Jules Manent, known as Gramoun Bébé, was born on August 25, 1927 in Saint-Louis on Reunion Island. The eldest of 16 children, he worked in the fields from an early age. He learned to play music from his ancestors, who appeared to him in a dream. A record was made in 2004, on the initiative of Stéphane Grondin, founder of the Maloya All Stars association, who wanted to disseminate the Manent family repertoire. For some fifty years, Gramoun Bébé has led ceremonies in homage to Afro-Malagasy ancestors, and is one of the main organizers of these family cults known as " kabaré services". A singer, he also played the kayamb, rouleur and sati. At the age of 77, Gramoun recorded Le Maloya Kabaré, an album featuring 19 tracks and an interview with Stéphane Grondin. He died a few days after the album's release, on February 25, 2005. He left his mark on the Réunionnais repertoire, and today's artists refer to him, notably Saodaj', who pays tribute to him in the track "Oté Maloya mi trouv aou zoli" .

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.