Santé engagé

Key takeaways

Santé engagé belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Santé engagé to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Santé engagé from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Santé engagé (Morisyen: sante angaze) is a genre of Mauritian music which consists of singing and rapping protest songs. It is a way to protest against political/social oppression and repression through music. The genre mixes traditional Mauritian sega with Indian, Chinese and Western influences.

History

Context The 1960s and 1970s ("les années de braise") have been a very bustling period in the history of Mauritius. It has been a period of high interracial tension leading to more than 300 deaths due to interracial affrays. It has also been an indecisive period with regard to the cultural heirloom of the island with a deep reconsidering of the multicultural image.

Independence of Mauritius Mauritius attained independence from Great Britain in 1968 without real exhilaration. A profound division prevailed between, on one side, the members of the independent movement and, on the other side, the anti-independentists. The island is faced with a vertiginously high level of unemployment and people still had in mind the recent interracial tensions peaking in 1964 and 1968. Under the pretext of security and law and order, the newly formed government of Mauritius took highly repressive measures against opponents who intended to put forward ideas adverse to those of the governing regime. Even though independence was declared in 1968, British colonial presence and dominance remained clearly visible throughout the 1970s.

Raise in consciousness Faced with such restrictions, youngsters (mostly university students) started to set up groups to debate on all ideological topics including politics and culture. Several students, among others Dev Virahsawmy, Jooneed Jeeroburkhan, Tirat Ramkisoon, Krishen Matis, Ah-Ken Wong, Kreeti Goburdhun, Vella Vengaroo created the Club of Students (Club des Etudiants). With the participation of Paul Bérenger, the Club of Students became the Club of Militant Students (Clubs des Etudiants militants). The Club later gave way to the creation of the Mauritian Militant Movement (in 1969) lauding national unity and social justice, inspired from the Libertarian Marxism movement. Along with this political movement, youngsters started militating for cultural freedom. The government redoubled its repressive actions against them, using the police force and tappeurs for assaults against the youngsters. Many members of the MMM are jailed as political prisoners.

Fight through culture and music The young generation however never abdicated. Freedom of culture was a fundamental element of their resistance, specially the fight for the recognition of the Mauritian creole as a full-fledged language. In the early 1970s they started to create cultural groups (Morisyen: Grup Kiltirel) to debate about culture. Along with this new form of resistance, young artists started to write songs reflecting their thoughts. The Groups travelled throughout the island to meet people and make their voice heard. They also sang those songs with committed lyrics which, in a certain way, clearly expressed the reality of the moment. The theme of these songs where various: politics, injustice, oppression, etc. The very first santé engazé is believed to be "Montagne Bertlo" written and composed by Jooneed Jeeroburkhan in 1969 in Mauritius, after completing his higher studies in Canada (on a Commonwealth Scholarship). Resistance and denunciation through music quickly became popular. It helped to transmit ideas more easily. It is this style of music that is called santé engazé (committed song).

Golden age It is commonly agreed that sante angaze really erupted with the Grup Kiltirel Soley Ruz (or Soley Ruz) formed in 1973. This cultural group, gathered many talented friends-artists, among others Bam Cuttayen, Micheline Virahsawmy, Rosemay Nelson, Nitish Joganah, Ram Joganah and Lélou Ménwar, Bruno Jacques, Paulo . They travelled throughout the island to sing their committed songs. Soley Ruz quickly became popular around the island. In 1975, another group kiltirel is formed (Grup Kiltirel Morisien) with, among others, Odile Chevreau, Siven Chinien, Habib Moosaheb, Rama Poonoosamy as members. Subsequently, other groups were formed: Fangurin, Kler de linn, Fler kanne, Flamboyant, Sitronel, Ebène, Grup kiltirel IDP. After the dissolution of Soley Ruz in 1979, many of its members started solo careers. Ram and Nitish Joganah created in the same year a new group, the Grup Latanier which would become the new symbol of sante angaze. Santé engazé stayed extremely popular among the population during the 1980s, specially within the working-class.

Musical style Sante angaze is a musical style which blends Sega music, Oriental music, Chinese Music and Occidental music. It is a fusion of musical styles which were popular at the time of its creation, i.e., in the 1970s. In fact it perfectly reflected the frame of mind of those who were at the origins of this style, that is a mixture of the cultural diversity of the island, towards cultural unity. Traditional instruments of the sega music (ravanne, maravane, triangle) were thus mixed with oriental instruments (tabla, harmonium, sitar) and Chinese instruments (Yangqin, Shamisen, Shakuhachi). Other instruments such as guitar, violin and drums completed that mixture. Even though the sonority of such committed songs are close to the sega music, the outcome is quite different insofar as the sega music has a more festive rhythm and lesser oriented on demonstrating and passing on a particular message. The rhythm of sante angaze is generally slower than the sega and influenced by many other musical styles.

Relation to politics Due to the context during which it has been created and its relationship with militancy, sante angaze (at least in its early years) is closely related to politics. The songs denounced political injustice and unfairness becoming intrinsically a form of militancy. The artists were themselves militants. Santé engazé has played a great part during general elections acting as the voice of the militant movement. The most notable example in this respect is the songs written and sung by Siven Chinien. His album soldat lalit was played (and is still played) throughout the general elections campaign, with the title song – "Soldat Lalit" – becoming the anthem of the MMM.

Groups and musicians

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Santé engagé

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Santé engagé claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Santé engagé before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Santé engagé ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Santé engagé

In research: Santé engagé appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Santé engagé in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Santé engagé is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Indian Ocean, Music of Mauritius, Political music genres, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Santé engagé outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Santé engagé in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Santé engagé means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Santé engagé out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Santé engagé in simple terms?

Santé engagé (Morisyen: sante angaze) is a genre of Mauritian music which consists of singing and rapping protest songs. It is a way to protest against political/social oppression and repression through music.

Why does Santé engagé matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Santé engagé?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Santé engagé.