Feb 6/08
Mauritius Week: Ti Frere
We’ll take it down a notch today.. something older, more “traditional”. Old-school sega from one of the genres early revivalists.
Jean Alphonse Ravaton, a.k.a. Ti Frere, is known in Mauritius as the “king of sega”.
Ti Frere was born in 1900 to a Madagascan father who was also a sega musician. He spent much of his life working as a wood cutter, cane-cutter, boulder breaker, bus conductor and forester while playing music on the side.
His musical break came in 1964, by which time he was nearly at retirement age, when he won an important sega contest, thus crowning him as the genre’s king.
If your French is a little rusty the name “Ti Frere” is short for “petit frère”, which means “little brother”.
To hear and learn more check-out the information and music samples available here.
Tags: mauritius, sega
April 1st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
sega tipic pou toujour dans laikair aine vrai mauricien zot pai fair aine bon travail koumesa nou kiltir pou touzour vivan
April 12th, 2008 at 12:40 am
I first saw him as a kid ,about 8 ,who came with his band to Brisee Verdiere Social Centre.I still recall him singing .
He will be remembered by everybody . We are proud of the culture he shared and the music he created.Innovation in the local music created seggae and gave birth to another pouplar singer-Kaya-who sang and wrote -Music is my culture and Tighten our belly.
Casiya ,Group Latanier came on the stage to share hope .
The 21st Century Segatiers need to look at the global market and create a niche.