Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Domestic

Seychellois musician in Australia releases 3rd album as a celebration of women’s strength |17 August 2019

Seychellois musician in Australia releases 3rd album as a celebration of women’s strength

Grace Barbe, a Seychellois artist living in Australia, has released her much-awaited third album entitled ‘FANM:WOMAN’.

The global launch took place on July 5 through Afrotropik Records in Fremantle, Western Australia where the artist is based.

Barbe told the Seychelles News Agency (SNA) through email that she was relieved and happy to finally release the album which has been six years in the making.

“In 2018 we were planning to release the album but we encountered a few setbacks recording-wise so we decided to wait. These things happen sometimes in the music industry and as an independent artist you want to make sure you are ready,” she told SNA.

She added that: “The album is a beautiful celebration of women worldwide and the contribution women have made and continue to make towards the development of our communities. A recognition of our mothers, our grandmothers, our elders and our daughters,” said Grace.

The album is Barbe's third and follows ‘Welele’ in 2013.

The singer, who moved to Australia at the age of 16 with her parents, added that the songs Fanm and Woman – the two songs which make the album title – speak to that.

“The Seychelles is a matriarch society so it was fitting for me to dedicate this album at this stage of my career and as a woman, to celebrate the strength of women worldwide,” said Barbe.

The ‘FANM:WOMAN’ album is a continuation of her love affair with the music of her native Indian Ocean region with songs from the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar.

For her third album, Barbe has not restricted her songs to her island nation but rather focussed on the Indian Ocean region as a whole.

The artist, whose music fuses the tropical rhythms and dances of the slaves with psychedelic rock, afrobeat, reggae and pop, has this time around included other sounds of the Indian Ocean. 

Heavily featured on FANM:WOMAN is seggae, the brain-melting fusion of Jamaican reggae and Indian Ocean sega pioneered by Mauritian musician Kaya, whose song Simé La Limière is covered.

Barbe says she wanted to pay homage to Kaya who also campaigned for the rights of the Mauritian Creole people.

“It was important to me to include the Indian Ocean island region as I feel we share similar culture and history, and each island has something beautiful to offer musically such as sega, tsinge, moutya, maloya and saleg rhythms which I absolutely love,” says Barbe.

Grace sings in Creole, English, French and Malagasy.

The singer says an Indian Ocean tour is in the pipeline to promote her album. For now, fans can order and download her music online at www.music.gracebarbe.com

Grace released her debut album ‘Kreol Daughter’ in 2008, followed by ‘Welele’ in 2013 which won her five WAMi (Western Australian Music industry) awards for ‘Best World Act.’

 

Source: Seychelles News Agency

 

More news