Africa-Press – Mauritius. The appointment was made for 1 p. m. at his home in Plaisance, Rose-Hill. Five minutes before the meeting, Serge Lebrasse tells us that he does not think he can receive us.
His wife, Gisèle Lebrasse, learning that we are in front of her house, asks us to enter anyway. Behind a large red gate, she greets us with a big smile and tells us that her husband is not doing too well.
In the Lebrasse couple’s house, one room serves as a studio. A real museum of memories. On the walls are glued concert posters, photos of the grandchildren, certificates but also newspaper clippings.
Traces of the years of glory experienced by this living legend that is Serge Lebrasse. While Gisèle puts us at ease, Serge Lebrasse finally leaves his bed.
He asks us to join him in the living room. “If it were up to me, I’d say it’s time for me to go. ” It is on this sentence that our interview will begin.
The ségatier is gradually looking back on his rich years as king of séga. The beginnings were not easy. His mother had a hard time with the fact that he left his teaching job to become a sega singer.
“At the time, people did not see sega with pride. I had a musician whose parents asked him not to play with me after a few months. The reason was that I had started to sing sega,” he recalls.
Who does not remember this famous “Madam Ezen” who wanted so much to marry off her three young daughters? Serge Lebrasse’s first sega. The anecdote is that in 1958, when this sega was released, it was sung at weddings and people thought that Serge Lebrasse was talking about his mother-in-law.
“I can assure you it was not my mother-in-law. Madame Eugène did not exist. I imagined it.
I was also surprised that wedding guests were always asking me for more sega to the point of not wanting me to come in, ”he recalls, smiling. “No regrets”
The choice was difficult for Serge Lebrasse but he does not regret for a single moment having followed his passion. The one who supported him all along was obviously his wife Gisèle.
“We have been married for 60 years. It was not easy, I can tell you, but I had to adapt. He wanted to do sega, it was his choice. There were ups and downs, but we stayed together,” Gisèle Lebrasse told us.
Even today, despite regular visits from children and grandchildren, Gisèle remains the most solid support of the segatier. At 84, she is the one who provides the details when it happens that Serge Lebrasse gets lost in the dates, for example.
It is also Gisèle who takes care of him. “Do you see that he is better than before? He likes to talk about séga”, adds Gisèle teasingly. If we listen to this couple, we realize that Gisèle was almost always at her husband’s side during international tours.
“Séga made me discover so many countries. Sennla mem inn bien vinn ar mwa!” launches Serge Lebrasse, pointing to Gisèle.
It is her turn to list the long list of countries visited with her husband. Fanfan, the much-missed Prankster Fanfan, even though he is no longer, still manages to put a smile on his great friend’s face.
Its most intact memory dates back to the post-independence period, when segatarians toured France. Serge Lebrasse is in charge of the troupe which is made up of Michel Legris, Fanfan, Marclaine Antoine, the Cassambo brothers and Nono Brabant.
“It’s very difficult for me to think about my friends who are no longer there.
. I can’t even talk about it,” he said, his voice charged with emotion. After a few minutes of silence, Serge Lebrasse returns to this famous day when, in Dijon, the troop of ségatiers had lost Fanfan.
“I was singing and when I turned around to look for Fanfan, he was gone.
I asked the whole troop if they had seen him, no one knew where he was. So I walked up the aisle to find him. Finally I saw him in the crowd. He was motionless in front of two mannequins.
I asked him what he was doing there, he told me to watch the models. I replied that they were plastic dummies. He told me to wait and watch. They were actually living mannequins.
It was two young girls who were also watching Fanfan. We had a good laugh that day. ” On August 18, Fanfan passed away at the age of 87. The last memory of Serge Lebrasse with this other illustrious segatier is when he went, some time ago, to the convent of St Jean de Dieu in Pamplemousses where Fanfan lived.
“I was on an improvised stage. The convent residents were seated below, and Fanfan was in the front row in his wheelchair. He waved at me, I did the same.
I had learned that once a year, the residents of the convent would spend time with their relatives, I told myself that I would visit him once at home.
It would be just the two of us, we would have chatted. But I didn’t have time to do it. I regret not having even been able to go to his funeral, I was sick.
We left Serge Lebrasse on a few words of “Madame Ezen” which he kindly agreed to sing with his ravanne which he took down from the wall for the occasion.
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