Tracing Mozambique Makonde traditions in Reunion Island

This paper focuses on exploring the possible influences of Mozambican Makonde music and
dance in Réunion Island. In my research, I try to map the similarities and understand the
relation between Makonde and Réunion Island’s music and dance. Specifically, I am tracing
the Makonde traditional styles in Reunion Island in the context of the Indian Ocean World.
The Makonde people of Mozambique had contact with Reunion Island in the wake of
colonialism. Many slaves were taken from the north of Mozambique and Madagascar to
Reunion Island by the French colonials to work on sugar cane plantations. There is a written
record of a slave named Dominique Macondé who is believed to be a descendent of the
Makonde and is the last slave to be freed in Reunion Island. Nalombo is a master of Makonde
initiation rites, which includes specific dances. It may have arrived in Reunion Island through
the slaves captured in Mozambique and taken to the island in the era of Dominique Macondé.
There are no written records of it, but some traditional practices in on the island show traces
of it.
After the abolition of slavery, Tamil people from South India were brought to Reunion Island
as a cheap labour force. They brought many cultural practices and Hinduism religion to the
Island. Jako is a popular character in Reunion Island who represents the Tamil’s God
Hanuman, responsible for warding off evil spirits and bringing good luck. Jako exists only in
Reunion Island. Just as Jako alludes to a mythical character in Hinduism, the Nalombo is
associated with a mythical spiritual mediator presiding over the Makonde initiation rites.
There are other similarities between Jako and Nalombo: i) both paint their bodies and have
other similar performative traits; ii) both observe a period of sexual abstinence or fasting
before any important celebration or ceremony; iii) both only come out on special occasions;
iv) not everyone can be Jako or Nalombo, they must be chosen or have a divine gift.
Jako was born in Reunion Island and may combine Tamil tradition and Hinduism with
Makonde tradition as it seems to integrate the Makonde Nalombo traditional dance. I am
currently doing fieldwork on these two cultural practices to further explore the relation
between them and map traces of Makonde culture in Reunion Island.