Although it is now a French administrative département, the island of Mayotte remains remarkable for its multi-ethnic, traditional musical culture, which is closely related to migratory movements within the Comoros Archipelago which it is part of. This geographical area – located north of the Mozambique Channel between Zanzibar and Madagascar – shares a common identity, and Mayotte’s musical practices intersect African, Malagasy, Persian, Yemeni, Indian and European influences. There is a very wide variety of instrument types on the island, and this is reflected in their varied materials, shapes, craftsmanship, playing techniques and sounds. Born of the makers’ ingenuity, the instruments of Mayotte have developed unique characteristics that we invite you to discover through four articles each focusing on a different group of instruments: membranophones, idiophones, chordophones, and aerophones.

In ethnomusicology, musical instruments are divided into four main families. The term “idiophone” refers to the family of objects that produce sound by vibrating the material they are made of and/or by shaking them. This musical family probably includes the world’s earliest, most rudimentary instruments, which evolved from highly intuitive movements. There are eleven different idiophones in Mayotte: two rattles, two claves, a tambourine, and six percussion instruments (four struck, two pounded).

Daf

The daf is a Persian traditional instrument that is widespread worldwide under various names and shapes, although all have common ancestry: daf in Arabic countries, and in Iran, Armenia, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka; daphi in Georgia; dap in Central Asia and the Caucasus; daph in Tibet; def in Turkey, Bosnia, Albania, Montenegro; defi in Greece; deff in North Africa, and duff in East Africa. In the Comoros Archipelago, and particularly in Mayotte, this tambourine of Arab origin is a round frame drum without a membrane but with jingles (often made from cut-out tin can lids). A typical model measures 30 cm in diameter and has eighteen slots (rectangular holes cut out of the frame) in which thirty-six jingles are attached in pairs. The frame – which the musician strikes with their bare hand – is a piece of hard wood (Sirisa: Albizia lebbeck, or Indian almond: Terminalia cattapa), that has been hollowed out and stripped of bark.

Linked to Sufi dogma and dhikr, the daf is part of the instrumental ensemble belonging to madjiliss, deba or tari. Unlike industrially made daf that are now more common, handmade pieces are becoming rare in Mayotte.

Garandro

The word “garandro” – which means “metal” in Shimaore and Kibushi – refers to a family of idiophones, and separately to the different instruments within this family, e.g.: metal tray (patsu), grill pan, and washing machine drum. Played during shigoma, patrosi, mlelezi, or mrenge processions, the intense and high-pitched sounds made by these factory-made metallic objects have led to them being diverted from their initial function and usual use, and since the 2000s they have become very common musical instruments during traditional festive practices. Individually they are often combined with the ngoma drum ensemble (dori, fumba, msindrio).

Patsu

The patsu is a hollow metal tray 36 cm in diameter, struck with a wooden stick (a piece of branch stripped of its bark). 

Washing machine drum

Hit with two wooden sticks, the washing machine drum is a round, perforated sound box, 46 cm in diameter.

Grill pan

The grill pan is a standard 56 × 49 cm rectangular baking tray that is struck with two wooden sticks. 

Masheve

Masheve rattles are attached to the ankle, and are found throughout the Indian Ocean region, in Mozambique (masseve or chitchatchatcha), Zanzibar (miseve), and – in related forms – in Madagascar (maseva or koritsakoritsa, also worn on the wrist), Reunion (kavir, kavia, kascavel) and Rodrigues (katya-katya).

Nine to twelve small basket rattles woven from ilala palm leaves (Hyphaene coriacea), were traditionally linked together by a strand of raffia or aloe, although this is gradually being replaced by elastic for strength and practicality. Once cut, these palm leaves have to dry for two hours in the sun to ensure they are flexible enough to be woven. Inside the rattles a dozen or so “rosary peas” from the bead vine Abrus precatorius (M’bilimbitsi or Maso na ombygara), add sound to the movements of shakasha, biyaya or magandza dancers and musicians.

Mbiwi

Part of the clave family, mbiwi are rudimentary clappers that are struck in pairs and are found on all of the Comoros islands and also in Madagascar (ambio). Mbiwi are rectangles originally carved from tropical hardwoods, but which are now made of bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) for better strength, sound and intensity. They are traditionally played in groups of at least three so that a polyrhythm is created, consisting of superimposed rhythmic patterns and ostinato (strikes on the strong beats, offbeats and triplets). Mbiwi are only played by women, and have given their name to a dance repertoire involving a series of contests between female dancers/musicians. In Mayotte mbiwi are especially popular during manzaraka wedding celebrations, and have gone beyond their status as a musical instrument to become a feminine adornment – even a sign of distinction – thanks to the painted designs that decorate them.

Mkwasa

Like mbiwi, mkwasa are also a type of clave, however they are only used by men. These cylindrical sticks are clapped together and are made from parts of stripped guava tree branches (Psidium guajava), or sometimes mangrove (Avicenna marina), and average 2 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length. Despite being simple to make, these claves are now rare and are often replaced in traditional and popular repertoires by the louder garandro or mbiwi.

Mkayamba

Originally from Africa where it is called chiquitsi or kaembe in the southern provinces of Mozambique and kayamba in Kenya and Zanzibar, this rectangular reed rattle is known as raloba in Madagascar (the Malagasy kahiemba being a different, tubular-shaped, idiophone), maravane in Mauritius, mkayamba on Anjouan and the other Comorian islands, and kayamb (formerly caiembre) in Reunion. In Mayotte the mkayamba is a rectangular percussion instrument whose frame is made of female mavanati raffia (Raffia farinifera) covered with male lemon-grass flower stalks (Cymbopogon citratus) traditionally tied together with strands of raffia or kitani (Furcraea foetida). Four ends of the frame protrude lengthwise to help hold the instrument, and “rosary peas” from Abrus precatorius are enclosed in the rattle as beads. The two inner crosspieces are made of coffee tree wood (Psychotria calothyris). The player shakes it (vertically and/or horizontally, even obliquely) so that the seeds collide (indirect percussion). This gives rhythm to mgodro and other contemporary music, adding to their dynamism. Depending on playing techniques, the musician’s thumbs can also strike the box frame (direct percussion). Mkayamb remain popular in Mayotte, but paradoxically there few makers.

Mwitsi

Although pestles are used in Mayotte as a utensil to crush foodstuffs, they are also an ancestral musical instrument of Malayo-Polynesian origin.

A mwitsi (or mutsi) in Shimaore, fandisa in Kibushi, is a pounding staff rhythm stick (on average 130 cm long and 15 cm in circumference) which is struck rhythmically against the ground or resonates on contact with the mortar (shino) or other hard surface. It is usually made from strong wood such as lychee (Lychee sinensis) or jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus). Along with shikele it traditionally accompanies the shitete dance. When dropped into the mortar, it is also the instrument that sets the rhythm for the wadaha dance. It is being used increasingly rarely, as are the musical repertoires it is played alongside.

Shikele

Played in pairs, shikele are hollowed-out half-coconut shells that are struck onto the ground (cavity resonance) with alternating hands. Although crudely made, they are becoming scarcer, as is the dance that they accompany, known as shitete (a female fertility dance for a future bride, performed with the mwitsi).

Tsakareteky

Belonging to the category of percussion tubes, the tsakareteky, comes in the shape of a piece of bamboo (two knots, 1 m long and about 10 cm diameter) and is also found in Madagascar (tsipertrika) and Reunion (piker). It lies horizontally on a stand or on the floor and is struck with two wooden sticks. It is becoming scarce in Mayotte as players prefer the garandro. 

Fanie Précourt

Traduction réalisée par Catharine Cellier-Smart (Smart Translate).