Christine Salem's bewitching voice, accompanied by her kayamb (percussive instrument made of reed stems filled with seeds), takes us on a musical journey across the Indian Ocean. Her songs tell of life with all its joy, hardship and struggle, in the purest Creole and the local Malagasy, Comorian and Swahili dialects of the ancestors.

Salem Tradition is a group from the island of Reunion. Originating in the Camélia district of Saint-Denis, the group's leader Christine Salem represents the new, feminine generation of maloya. She penned her first song at the age of just twelve: a blues number in English. Mixing séga, blues and maloya, Christine Salem started out in the street with her friends and her guitar. Joining a choir led to the discovery of other music styles, and she soon decided to devote herself entirely to singing.

As a singer-songwriter, she launched her career in 1997 with the formation of Salem Tradition subtly mixing Indian Ocean music and traditional Réunionnais with African instruments. Moving from appearances at traditional kabar parties to larger venues. Through the sensitivity and power of Christine's voice, the music of Salem Tradition found its place not only in the local landscape but beyond the shores of Reunion, thanks to an appearance at WOMEX 2002 and the release of Krié (2003). On Fanm (2006), Christine Salem continued to explore the pathways of tradition, breathing an air of modernity along the way.

In concert, Christine Salem, the youngest of the maloya singers, is a strong-willed woman who acts on instinct and feeling, to catalyse energy and galvanise the public. Ever close to her listeners, she draws her force from them and repays it a hundredfold.