Ti Galé

Ti Galé is an album of exuberant solo accordion music by René Lacaille, venerable master of sega, the dance music of the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion. Lacaille, who comes from a family of sega players, began teaching himself the accordion at the age of seven. He’s been at it ever since, in a career spanning more than 70 years. “I practice my instrument every day”, he says. “I can’t live without playing and I always go back to the old segas…” Lacaille left the troubled paradise of La Réunion for Paris in 1979. Amid the cultural tumult, he absorbed many influences, especially jazz. In ‘Kolé Serré’, his squeezebox becomes an entire ensemble; solos answer one another like sax and trumpet players trading riffs. Strong bass rhythm drives ‘Mam Zogrez’ and the melody swings, jewelled by speeding trills. “Mozart is here”, Lacaille jokes. The variations of the final track, ‘Papang Zoué Pa Ek Poul’, suggest that Bach is present, too.