Promoting the moutya among the youth |27 August 2020

Highlights of the workshop

The moutya was created by the slaves around 200 years ago and since then has been a staple in our culture, but as the world evolves and decades turn into centuries that piece of culture that was once prominent is starting to lose its grip especially on the new generation.

In order to promote moutya as a major cultural element in Seychelles, the National Arts Council (Nac) in collaboration with the Culture ambassador, Patrick Victor, organised a one-day workshop for thirty students on holiday break.

The workshop included training on how to play the ‘tanbour moutya’ where the participants learned the history behind the instrument as well as how to play and create music from it.

Attendees also learned how to perform the moutya dance and the history behind the dance.

The third part of the workshop focused on the composition of moutya songs and how to sing it.

“The workshop was quite successful as the kids were very interested in what they were learning. Since this is the first time that Nac organises such a project, we were very happy with the turn-out and this shows us kids are interested in learning about the moutya,” said Joenise Juliette, art development officer for Nac.

Ms Juliette added that even though the school holidays were only 14 days they were able to host multiple workshops that focused on some of the traditional parts of our culture that we are losing.

Such workshops focused on proverbs and parables as well as crocheting and romance singing.

She added that due to Covid-19 constraints some workshops were conducted virtually.

“Here at the Nac we will always strive to teach the newer generations about our culture and art forms through our many more workshops to come,” Ms Juliette noted.

Christophe Zialor