2023-04-30 08:00:03
On May 1, 2023, France Télévisions will broadcast a documentary on the Reunionese group “Ziskakan, a Creole revolution”, directed by Sébastien Folin. To talk about it, our guests are: Gilbert Pounia, current singer-guitarist of the group; Wazis Loy, bassist and son of Gilbert Pounia; Sebastien Folin, director.
Prix « Heart stroke » Charles Cros Academy 2023.
First documentary directed by Sebastien Folinfavorite of the Charles Cros Academy 2023, Ziskakan, a Creole revolution recounts the identity and peaceful fight led by the members of the Reunionese group Ziskakan, for four decades, for the promotion and transmission of the Creole culture of their island. An important film that bears the memory of an unknown part of the history of Reunion. Today, what remains of their actions? Where is the cultural heritage of Reunion and the Creole language at the time of globalization? To sublimate their authentic and unique story, the documentary is told by Abd al-Malik.
Pioneer group created in 1979, Ziskakan (“Until when” in Reunionese Creole) made lawyers (music and dance reclaiming slaves) his battle horse and his strength. This collective of artists, intellectuals and activists – whose leader and founder is Gilbert Pounia – is certainly a music group, one of the most emblematic of the intense island, but it is above all a soul. A Creole spirit expressed through an association that fought to have Creole culture recognized. Poetry, storytelling, visual arts, music, were her weapons to fight against cultural oppression and the erasure of identity and to denounce social violence.
In the 1970s, the Creole language and its cultural avatars were absent from public space and devalued by political power. To circumvent the censorship, clandestine concerts and fanzines distributed under the coat took part in the birth of a movement whose cement was an unfailing solidarity. For the first time, this young people from Reunion told their reality and drew an unadorned portrait of Reunion. A fight that the members of Ziskakan led on the ground of speech, through stories, poems and songs.
Ziskakan’s heritage is certainly cultural, but it is also an encouragement to raise one’s head and extinguish the shame that, unfortunately, too often stifles the desire for emancipation and social elevation of youth. Since its inception, the group has introduced an increasingly wide audience to music that reflects the cultural richness of Reunion (Indian music, African percussion, Creole texts) and has also participated in revealing to the world the strengths and scope of this culture.
Forty-three years after the creation of the collective, Sébastien Folin went to meet those who made the history of Ziskakan. In this documentary entirely shot in Reunionese Creole, the members of the group testify and paint a touching and uncompromising portrait of postcolonial Reunion where they evolved.
Today, while the group has toured the world, Maloya has been classified since 2009 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity certified by Unesco, and Creole taught at school, the film questions these pioneers about their motivations, their history and their legacy. With numerous archives collected, the film is as much the story of an artistic movement as that of the quest for identity in a part of France on the Indian Ocean.
Kraké: In Reunion, Creole ritual expression used by the storyteller asking his audience if they are ready to listen.
See you on France 3, the 1is May at 11 p.m..
Titles played by Ziskakan
– Bato Fou see the clip
– 32 December see the clip
– Saarang see the clip
– Madagascar see the clip
– Kala, Live RFI in their hotel room, Nuits d’Afrique festival, Montreal 2017. Watch the RFI Videos clip.
#Krike.. #Krake #Ziskakan #Creole #revolution