Babani Soundsystem

Electronic music collective from Mauritius

Babani Soundsystem
This week we're listening to music from island nations from around the world. Each day, we'll challenge our expectations of what we think music from a place sounds like, and listen to great music while we do. Let's go.

Today on Ecléctico you're listening to Babani Soundsystem, a collective of musicians, DJs, and producers from Mauritius who combine traditional rhythms and folklore from the East African islands of the Indian Ocean with electronic beats and grooves. Their blending of styles and traditions is loud and clear on today's song, where an analog synthesizer follows the organic groove set forth by hand-played instruments like the caxixi (a closed-basket percussion shaker), the tight wooden reeds of a maravanne, and the tambourine-like drum called ravanne.

"Zistwar Fer Per" by Babani Soundsystem
2019 | Electronic music collective from Mauritius


Go deeper with this excerpt from and a link to the liner notes of Babani Soundsystem's remixes album for today's song:

The band from Mauritius defends a sound that blends Indian Ocean’s traditional rhythms and new electronic influences. The track title translated from Mauritian Creole, “Spooky stories”, evokes the island’s urban legends about night creatures in children tales. It also metaphorically describes night gatherings where spirits are awoken by the sound of traditional percussions. The latter are omnipresent, driven by a bewitching bassline and complemented by obscure synths.