__NOTOC__ Stéphano Honoré, (born 21 October 1955 in

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

) better known as Menwar, is a

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

percussionist and singer. He was one of the pioneers of

Seggae Seggae is a fusion genre of sega, the traditional music of the Mascarene Islands, and reggae. It was originally created in Mauritius by Kaya (Mauritian musician) and eventually became popular in Mascarene Islands. Seggae is one of the most popular ...

music, forming the group Sagaï in the 1980s. Honoré is a player of the

ravanne The ravanne is a large tambourine-like instrument used in sega music of Mauritius. It is made out of goat skin called “lapo cabri” (in Mauritian Creole) which usually needs to be heated up before playing. The ravanne is used as the main rhythm ...

, for which he has begun to develop a written technique, something that has not been done previously. He also plays multiple instruments that he has selfmade or that come from the African culture. Honoré was born in

Port-Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's eco ...

. He did not attend school, but attempted to play numerous sports and worked several jobs. He often listened to recordings of traditional Mauritian music, particularly sega (or séga) as a child. In 1977 he released two 45

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

records on the

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

label Green Turtle and two more in 1978. Honoré was known as Lélou before his first

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

, ''Souvenir le port'', was released in 1980, credited as Menwar. Honoré went back to Mauritius in 1993, but still traveled to and from the island of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

while producing and performing music. During the 1990s, he participated in a Marseille musical comedy entitled ''Mokko'' and was featured on another artist's album. Honoré was named Artist of the Year by French radio station

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

. Honoré holds strong views about the Mauritian Creole community and the issues that this community and Mauritians in general faced and are still facing nowadays by singing stories inspired by his own life experiences or those of his relatives. Despite these ideas he is not politically active, in contrast with the musicians of seggae, a Mauritian musical genre which was very popular in the early 1990s.

Discography

*1980: ''Souvenir le port'' *1982: ''Létan l'enfer'' *1984: ''Kiltir dé zi'' *2006: ''Ay ay lolo''

References

External links

Official site
*https://www.facebook.com/1591482704402505/photos/a.1593504917533617.1073741828.1591482704402505/1593513500866092/?type=1&theater {{DEFAULTSORT:Menwar 1955 births Mauritian percussionists Mauritian singers People from Port Louis District Living people

Discography

See also

References

External links