Performance - 7 July 2012
Stéphano Honoré, (born 21 October 1955 in Cassis, Mauritius) better known as Menwar, is a Mauritian percussionist and singer. He was one of the pioneers of modern sega music, forming the group Sagaï in the 1980s. Honoré is a player of the ravanne, for which he has begun to develop a written technique, something that has not been done previously.
Honoré was born in Cassis, Port-Louis. He did not attend school frequently, but attempted to play numerous sports and worked several jobs. He often listened to recordings of traditional Mauritian music, particularly sega (or séga) as a child. In 1977 he released two 45 rpm records on the Madagascar label Green Turtle and two more in 1978. Honoré was known as Lélou before his first cassette, Souvenir le port, was released in 1980, credited as Menwar. Honoré went back to Mauritius in 1993, but still traveled to and from the island of Réunion while producing and performing music. During the 1990s, he participated in a Marseille musical comedy entitled Mokko and was featured on another artist's album.
He was named Artist of the Year by French radio station Radio France Internationale and stated that he "took the distinction as an honor for a Mauritian artist" (French: Je prends cette distinction comme un honneur pour un artiste mauricien).
Honoré holds strong views about the Mauritian Creole community and believes that the Catholic Church is responsible for the issues that have occurred within it. His songs contain references to the problems that have affected this community. Despite these ideas he is not politically active, in contrast with the musicians of seggae, a Mauritian musical genre which was very popular in the early 1990s.