Jean
Alphonse Ravaton, alias Ti Frère,
was born in Quartier Militaire on April 29th, 1900. His father
was from Madagascar (Ravaton is a
Madagascan surname) and a Sega artist too; the art form being
characteristically passed on from father
to son, and groups often made up of members of the same family.
A coachman to a well-to-do-family, his father not only performed the Sega
but also conducted a dance band, the kind prolific at the time with accordion,
banjo, percussion, and sometimes violin. Such orchestras performed European
dance repertoire like the "cottish", "mazok",
"lavalse" and "quadrilles", dances which, although they
have disappeared in Mauritius, are still popular on Rodrigues, the neighbouring
island. Ti Frere learnt to sing the Sega and ballads too through accompanying
his father. Later he would sing with his own dance band, playing especially for
" zarico" (z'haricot) (bean) dances. "Zarico" dances were
Saturday night country affairs put on in the courtyards of homes and during
which a cake containing a bean was shared out: whoever got the bean had to put
on the next Saturday's dance. These dances would always finish with a few Segas,
something that still happens today at marriages or parties and that harkens
back to the time when the Sega, frowned upon and sometimes forbidden, was only
danced as the night would close and restrictions eased up a little.
The Segas marginally never threatened its
existence: Ti Frere has performed it all his life. He would be called upon for parties,
beach picnics and drinks after shooting parties which he himself would
participate as a beater and sometimes as hunter. His Sega artist reputation was
firmly established through veritable tournaments, "pariages Sega",
contests with no prize and no jury, put on from village to village, which would
last all night long, even today into the next day with only judges being the
dancers and their audience.
Although Ti Frere was reputed locally, he had
to wait until 1964 to achieve fame on a national scale. On October 30th of that
year occurred the famous "Night of the Sega". Held on Mt. Le Morne, it was
a musical and theatrical happening which Mauritians still remember. In some
ways this happening was the official reinstatement of the Sega and the first
step towards an awareness of Afro-Mauritian cultural identity. Four years away
from independence and cohabitating with Indian, Moslem, European, Chinese
ethnic groups, the Afro-Mauritian, so called Creole community felt the need to
assert its identity through a rediscovery and conservation of its roots. On
that night a Sega contest was organised after which Ti Frere was crowned "King
of Sega". From then on, he was in the public eye and recorded a series of
45's which are unobtainable today. To the traditional ravanne, maravane , and
triangle, Ti Frere would sometimes add the accordion, influenced by his
father (and his own) dance band instruments. Like other Sega artist, Ti
Frere has never been able to live from it. He has had many different trades:
wood cutter, cane-cutter, " casseur roches" (boulder breaker), bus
conductor, forester.
Ti Frere has artistry that is totally unique.
This is in part due to his strong artistic personality but also to what has
influenced his make-up. Ti Frere was initiated by his father, but the latter
had already been triply influenced by the Bhojpuri language, his Madagascan
birth ( Ti Frere still remembers the Madagascan songs his father taught him)
and by his contact with the European dance music performed by his orchestra,
music and in other towns no doubt also influenced his father.
This unique situation made Ti Frere a
synthesis of African and European roots, and able, by assimilation away from
the structure of African-inherited classical Sega (drum call, soloist and choir),
to adopt a form inspirited by European models: Sega's with verse and a refrain
sung from beginning to end by a soloist where melody counted above all. The
" drawing room Sega" followed similar lines but Ti Frere remained
traditional without losing any of the rhythmic intensity and inspiration of the
original rhythmic framework and ravanne Sega instrumentation.
American bluesmen too left far behind them
the songs of their ancestors, especially work songs, opting for newer European
forms and instrumentation and creating unique new forms of expression- the old
songs lived on nevertheless and evolved quite naturally into Negro Spirituals.
Ti frère, without losing any of the rhythmic intensity and inspiration of the
original Sega art from has written superb melodies. This is how Segas were
born, even if their repertoire is now well-known to all Mauritians. Simple
everyday things would take them off: words of advice to a drunkard, for a
neighbours child, domestic rows...
Ti Frere tells great stories but then a Sega artist cannot help but be a
storyteller, a kind of chansonnier, piecing together over the years a musical
patchwork of the events, the characters and the ups and downs of an entire
community.
CAP SOLEIL - ILE MAURICE - Tour opérateur (License No. 03430) Membre de AIOM (Association of Inbound Operators of Mauritius) Adresse: 5 Impasse des Ibis - Sodnac - Quatre Bornes - Ile Maurice -
Tel: [230] 427 7454 - 55 -
Fax: [230] 427 0444
Email: soleilmaurice@gmail.com
