This is the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service, with me, Reena Stanton Sharma.

That's Sege Man by Kaya.

His death in police custody in 1999 sparked three days of rioting in Mauritius.

Kaya, whose real name was Joseph Topes, was part of the Mauritian Afro-Creole community.

Descendants of slaves who felt disadvantaged compared to the majority Indian Hindu population.

For me, it was as you'd the world's top on that day.

Everything went dark and for a moment I fainted.

It was something very hard to accept.

I don't we should open anyone to experience this kind of situation.

Very neat Topes is Kaya's widow.

She was 31 when he died and the couple had two young children.

Kaya was performing at a rally to legalize marijuana and he was later arrested for smoking the drug there.

He was taken to a prison which locals called Alcatraz and died there four days later.

When word got out, riots erupted on the streets of the capital, Port Louis.

People believed Kaya had been beaten to death.

Kaya had a relaxed manner and gentle character.

He was always happy, smiling.

Everywhere he went, he would spread joy.

Kaya pioneered a news genre called Sege, using reggae and Sega, traditional music for Mauritius,

the small island in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Africa.

He chose his stage name as an homage to Bob Marley's album, Kaya,

and was heavily influenced by Marley's music and political messages.

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