Banned by the authorities for many years, maloya has finally come out of the shadows and become a popular musical genre on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. The traditional music owes its survival to a team of committed militants and enthusiasts who kept maloya – and the Creole language – alive in the face of considerable opposition from the government. The group Ziskakan played a major role in preserving maloya and campaigning for the official recognition of Creole (a language previously outlawed by the local elite).

Ziskakan came into being in 1979, but before evolving into a group they existed as a cultural association dedicated to "the valorisation and propagation of Reunionais culture." And for several years after that Ziskakan led a double life, functioning as a "research laboratory" for the Creole language (setting up the GREC research and study group, launching a magazine called "Sobat-koz" and a free radio called "Ziskakan") and performing locally as a group. In the course of their early career this militant troupe promoted Reunionais culture though theatre, poetry, dance, storytelling and music.

Ziskakan ended up going into the studio to record a debut album, covering all production and distribution costs themselves. And soon after this they began touring outside their homeland, playing concerts in Mauritius and the Seychelles. In 1983 the group followed their debut LP with a double album entitled "Pei Bato Fou" and a third album, "Moringer", was released in 1987. Once again, the group covered all production and distribution costs themselves.

At the end of 1988 Ziskakan headed off to France to promote their catchy maloya sound on the French mainland. Fronted by their charismatic leader, Gilbert Pounia (a singer of Tamil origin), the group forged a distinctive identity, reworking maloya for modern audiences while remaining true to the traditional music's roots.

A host of new albums followed and Ziskakan went on to bring the house down when they performed at "La Réunion des Musiques" festival organised at the Olympia in Paris in 1992. This festival gave the group their first major break, in fact, for they were spotted at the Olympia by the late Philippe Constantin, head of Polygram. Ziskakan's career rocketed from there on. Shortly after appearing at the Olympia, they flew out to Dakar to record their seventh album, "Kaskasnikola", and the album was released on a major label for the first time (on Island's satellite label, Mango).

In 1994 Ziskakan went on to appear at a number of major European festivals, scoring a big hit when they performed at "Musiques Métisses" in Angoulême, "Les Francofolies" in La Rochelle and music festivals in Montreux and Le Havre. The group also headed off to the United States to join the "Africa Fêtes" tour, where they played alongside the likes of Angélique Kidjo and Kassav’. And, as a result, their album rocketed into the Californian Top Ten.

Two years later Ziskakan were back in the music news with "Soley glasé", an album recorded between London and Brussels and produced by Phil Delire (a man famous for his work with French music star Alain Bashung). The album ended with a rousing cover version of the group's 1981 hit "Bato fou", one of the most hardhitting songs Gilbert Pounia has written to date. With lyrics such as - "They ordered us to whiten our skin/ and learn French posthaste, to ease the burden of French employers …" – there was no mistaking Ziskakan's message!

The group's career appeared to be going from strength to strength. So it came as a shock to everyone when in 1998, partway through a six-month tour which was to include an appearance at "Midem Latino" in Miami, Ziskakan announced they were to split up. In an interview with the Reunionais newspaper Le Quotidien, Pounia put the blame on financial pressures, claiming that the atmosphere in the group had been soured following a huge cash injection from local authorities to finance the group's tour.

Several months' silence followed the demise of the group, but Gilbert Pounia eventually decided to get back up in the saddle and form a new group. This time round he decided to work with an entirely acoustic formation and shortly after the new group's creation, he and his musicians went into a studio together in Reunion in 1999 and recorded a new album entitled "4 ti mo". Once the final mix had been completed in Paris, Ziskakan's new album was released on Créon Music in 2001. This new album marked a slight departure from Ziskakan's previous style, Pounia and his new musicians mixing traditional maloya instruments such as the rouleur and the cayamb with the Indian sitar and tablas. "4 ti mo" also featured a special tribute to Kaya (a singer who had died in suspicious circumstances in a Mauritian jail).

The album "4 ti mo" marks the beginning of a healthy new career for Ziskakan, a group who have been absolutely instrumental in establishing traditional Reunionais music on the international 'world' scene.

On November 3rd 2001, Ziskakan performed in Paris at the Café de la Danse.

In 2001, Gilbert Pounia got back to his ancestors’ land. travelling to Bombay where he recorded the songs that he had written in the Reunion. The album "Rimayer" came out in December 2001. It features indeed Indian vibes, echoing with the sounds of Indian instruments such as the sarod, and the shennai (an Indian flute that is played by Rupark Kulkarnik, a student of famous musician Hari Trasad-Chaorasia).

In January 2002, Ziskakan flew back to the Indian continent. He performed in New Dehli and Ariboa on the river Ganges.

Ziskakan went on to perform an extensive series of concerts in Mauritius, France and Switzerland and, on 28 April 2003, the band brought the house down at Le Casino de Paris. (The concert was recorded and released as a live album the following year). Meanwhile, the band’s hectic schedule continues apace. 2004 found Gilbert Pounia and his group heading out on the road for an extensive tour included dates in La Réunion, France, Switzerland and Canada.

In 2005, they embarked upon a mini-tour of India, performing concerts in Bombay, Jaipur, Madras, Goa, and New Delhi. The singer decided to produce his next album himself, working in a studio in Montpellier, in the south of France. Here, he got to know the members of local rock & Rai group Les Boukakes and invited one of the musicians from the group to take part in the recording sessions for his album.

The album, "Banjara", featured the usual Indian influences and also paid tribute to Gypsy culture, Pounia acknowledging that he felt real affinity with the Gypsies he had encountered on his travels. After performing at the Sakifo festival in La Réunion in August, the singer released his new album in October 2006 and it proved that he was as popular as ever in his homeland. In the space of just two months, "Banjara" sold 8,000 copies (on an island where the population did not exceed 800,000).

In February 2007, Ziskakan performed a series of concerts in South Africa. Then, at the fourth edition of the Sakifo festival, held in La Réunion in August, Pounia was invited to be president of the jury awarding the Alain-Peters Prize to an artist from the Indian Ocean region. That year, the award went to Lo Griyo, a double act made up of Sami Pageaux-Waro and Luc Joly.

September 2007