Menwar, Stéphano Honoré, is a singer, percussionist and instrument maker whose work places the ravann at the centre of a distinctive musical language. Recording first as Lélou, he developed sagaï through acoustic percussion and encounters with other musical forms. His recorded work and teaching connect inherited craft with deliberate experimentation.
Menwar performs Sizann at Afrikafestival Hertme in July 2012. This concert recording provides a stage setting for his singing and percussion, alongside the studio releases below.
Pop Lékonomi is published as official audio on Menwar’s channel, with a link to Zanana Records. It offers a studio recording alongside the live performance selection.
Melodi La Mer appears in BABANI’s 2025 reissue of Ay Ay Lolo, originally released in 2006. The publisher credits the video to Jérôme Valin and the original production to Christian Mousset.
Artist material published by the Académie de La Réunion traces his first recordings to two 1977 singles pressed in Madagascar on Discomad’s Green Turtle label, including Capito and Léti pommé. More singles followed before he produced the cassette Souvenir le Port in 1980 under the name Menwar. Létan lenfer followed in 1982, with Kaya on guitar, and Kiltir dé zil in 1984. These releases place his development within regional recording networks as well as Mauritian musical life.
The national intangible heritage inventory describes instruments Menwar constructs from everyday materials, including shells, cans and the rods used by mattress makers. It records his description of sagaï as an encounter between sega, blues, jazz, rock and seggae. The ravann and maravann remain central to that sound.
The name carries associations with a fishing harpoon, a spear and a mattress-maker’s rod. It links work, objects and musical invention. This makes sagaï more specific than a general label for fusion: the sound is connected to one practitioner’s way of making, handling and combining instruments.
Follow the credited catalogue or artist archive below. Recording dates, releases and contributors belong to each source record; a later reissue is not a new performance.
Menwar at BabaniMenwar, ravann, sega, sagaïBabani
Menwar, artist residency materialAcadémie de La Réunion
Sagaï in the national intangible heritage inventoryMauritius / UNESCO
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