Teddy Iafare-Gangama, from Reunion Island (France) presents up to fifteen texts in his concerts, after more than six years playing gigs in Reunion Island and abroad. His music is eclectic and stands on many western influences, soul music and funk coloring from time to time Reunion’s contemporary maloya.
A poet, performer, author of plays and stories, Teddy Iafare-Gangama is accompanied by four musicians. He plays, fights and juggles with words along a maloya, funk and soul inspired music. The text is declaimed and the deep voice of the artist infuses strength to the words and takes the audience in.
Teddy Iafare-Gangama does ‘fonnker’. It’s a music genre, and a Reunion creole word: approximately ‘heartfelt’. It’s a declamatory performance which is neither tale telling, nor slam. To Teddy, fonnker does not fit in a space of competition, but in ‘kabars’, a traditional way of getting together, in which people share various artistic practices related to the word. Since 2007, at the end of a theatrical formation, Teddy decides to take his own texts in a performance on stage. He has fun creating his own artistic, strong language of neologisms, parabolas and images, that either points out memories, invites to daydreaming, or points out the uneasiness of society.
Artistic encounters have nourished his work in the course of time. As an example, he has played with great names of the Reunion scene : Danyel Waro, Davy Sicard, Iza, Fabrice Legros, JF Gang, Jozefinn, Laurence Beaumarchais, Lindigo, Mounawar, and Ti Fock. In the same way, Abd Al Malik, Frederic Nevchehirlian, Jean-Luc Raharimanana are part of the “national” slammers and poets with whom he had the occasion to share a stage, a verse, a text, an emotion. After more than four years upon stage in Reunion Island and abroad, Teddy Iafare-Gangama presents up to fifteen texts in his concerts. His music is eclectic and stands on many western influences, soul music and funk coloring from time to time Reunion’s contemporary maloya and sega.