Sakifo founder Jérôme Galabert thought the idea worth the risk, so that at least he "wouldn't have any regrets". Thanks to the festival's burgeoning reputation he was able to put together a solid program, featuring artists from both islands to preserve Sakifo's local feel. Sadly, this first attempt to stage Sakifo concerts in Mauritius was not a success, due in part to terrible weather conditions, and the financial consequences of this failure were significant.

Fortunately, the situation on Réunion was a far happier one. Enthusiasm for the festival there has continued to grow year after year. It was nonetheless organized under difficult circumstances following the municipal elections of March 2008. The new mayoral team of the city of Saint-Leu, which had always been a faithful partner to the festival, decided it no longer wanted Sakifo. So the organizers found another location, at Saint Pierre, where they mounted three of the six stages on a four hectare field by the sea. The other three stages were mounted at various locations in the town.

This year's festival in particular seemed to focus on "groove" - that of Réunion's traditional maloya  music of course, with performances from the likes of Granmoun Sello or the Famille Groove Lélé, who won the Alain-Peters Prize this year. But it also featured the rhythms of Nigerian Seun Kuti and his band, and Ivorian reggaeman Tiken Jah Fakoly who drew an audience of almost 11,000 people, as well as French-Central African Bibi Tanga, whose soul-funk sounds featuring Professeur Inlassable was one of the big hits of this festival.

Percussionist Cyril Atef was also there, to perform and also to catch other festival acts, having just wrapped up studio sessions with Bumcello's Vincent Segal and Réunion songstress Nathalie Natiembé. This trio first performed together at the 2007 Sakifo, and this brief encounter was so promising that Nathalie Natiembé invited the other two to work on her next album. "Natibumcello" took time out from recording to perform again at this year's Sakifo.

While Nathalie Natiembé is something of a festival mascot - she has performed every year -  Sami Waro Pageaux has also become one of its regulars. In 2007 he was awarded the first ever Alain-Peters Prize at the festival, while this year he performed with his duo Lo Griyo, with his illustrious father Danyel in the audience. His live act consisted of creating loops of music combining kora and saxophone with mayola.

At the same time, on another festival stage, Thierry Gauliris was demonstrating the enduring popularity of his group Baster, with its seductive mix of sega, mayola, rock and reggae.  Just as widely applauded was Alex, a former member of the group Moovman La Kour. He started off as a rap artist, but followed in the footsteps of the Senegalese group Positive Black Soul and started singing, injecting his own melodies and harmonies into his songs. Played on stage by seven well-honed musicians, his music transcends genres while still touching base with Alex's local roots.

The sole representative from Madagascar at Sakifo this year was Mikea, who is starting to get a name for himself. Already invited to perform at the Timitar festival in Morocco, this guitarist from the southwest of the island found his inspiration in beko, the songs and lamentations of his ethnic group. Perhaps, in the audience, there were even distant cousins of his, descendants of the Madagascan slaves brought over to populate Bourbon Island, later to be renamed Réunion…

Bertrand Lavaine