Lavwa Shalmali
Patyatann, Indian Ocean • Sound Islet
Lemuria, Kumari Kandam, Shalmali… The people of the Indian Ocean have long spoken of legends about a lost continent, submerged by the waters. Lavwa Shalmali is a voyage through space and time, towards our mythological and cosmogonic roots unraveling a dreamy world inhabited by Red Giants, these mysterious colossal beings shaping our mountains, foreshadowing our futures. (De Chazal, Petrusmok).
What would the language of these giant humans with beaks for chins, pecking around like birds, be like? (De Chazal, Petrusmok)
What would be the soundscape of this universe where human words hold little importance, where the Spirits of high places whisper in the breeze of incomprehensible words? (Robert Edward Hart, La Montagne Fée)
Delve into an auditory adventure and travel into various realms of our mythical genesis: from the depths of inception of the Indo-Oceanic creation, to ancient forests inhabited by strange magical creatures, to oneiric Lemurian sculptors carving into the clouds. The canvas comes alive with musical instruments from different parts of the Indian Ocean: the Mauritian ravanne and bobre with their African roots, the Indian flute and shruti, the Australian didgeridoo as well as the rouler from Reunion Island. A true symphony from yesteryears. An ode to the ancestors. The lyrics are in Mauritian creole revealing the enchanting history of Shalmali – an allegorical name for Lemuria, but also the third subcontinent of Indian mythology now underwater, the spirit of which lives within each and every one of us, attaching us to these very sacred lands.