Lacaille, René

Born in 1946, René Lacaille is the master of the spicy séga rhythms of l’Île de la Réunion, a volcanic island paradise located deep in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The embodiment of la Réunion’s vitality, René is a man steeped in his culture’s celebration of life and good times.

As early as age 7, he learned how to command a party when he accompanied his father to perform at weddings and dances throughout the island’s many towns. This was rigorous training, because the musicians had to be versatile and capable of playing the Paso Doble, cha-cha, polka, waltz, bolero, Creole quadrille, Sega, and Maloya. René masters the bongos, drums, accordion, guitar, and saxophone.

The countless nights that René spent playing professionally, combined with new music arriving from other shores, provided a variety of influences for him, and his own compositions informed by flamenco, salsa, blues, rock, jazz and fusion. In his 20s, Rene abandoned the accordion for the guitar, and formed the now-legendary group Caméléon, who were the first to invent electric Maloya, blending traditional Réunion music with modern western timbres. Rene’s "Sax Séga" would prove to be a hit with the francophone market,.

In 1979, René moved to France and continued his musical interests in jazz and fusion. Soon after, he had a deeply moving musical encounter with the roots Réunion artist Danyél Waro, which re-kindled his interest in the accordion and Réunion musical traditions, thereby changing the direction of his musical life. Since meeting Bob Brozman in 1999, René has toured with him in Europe, South Africa, East Africa, Canada and Australia.

He has been playing with Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Manu Dibango, Ray Lema… René’s talents continue to usher him into new countries each year, helping to span his reach from Europe and Africa to South America, Russia, Asia, and the USA.