Maya Kamaty

Born in Sainte-Clotilde, La Réunion, Maya Kamaty develops a sung writing in Réunion Creole where Maloya dialogues with folk, electro pop and more hybrid forms that have emerged along her career. Daughter of Gilbert Pounia, of the group Ziskakan, and of storyteller Annie Grondin, Maya Kamaty grows up in an artistic environment tied to Réunion cultures, before training at the Conservatoire de La Réunion and then, during her studies in Montpellier, joining the group Grèn Sémé with other Réunion musicians. Returning to the island, she works in local music production and launches in 2012 her own project, initially in a trio. Her first album, Santié Papang (2014), is part of an acoustic vein where Maloya rhythms intersect ballads carried by guitar and ukulele. With Pandiyé (2019), Maya Kamaty shifts her approach toward a more electronic material, while keeping a central place for the Creole language and Réunion roots. In parallel, she participates in several collective projects, notably with the women’s choir Les Bringelles and with La Mal Coiffée around a repertoire mixing Creole and Occitan. In 2022, she releases the EP Sovaz, extending this more frontal and contemporary orientation.