ZILY

Some voices aren’t just heard, they’re lived. They echo through markets, taxis, weddings, radios, and homes. In Mayotte, Zily is that voice. She’s everywhere, woven into daily life. She sings of joy, but also of struggle. Of love and hope, but above all, of resilience — the will to move forward, no matter the adversity. She is the heartbeat of an island that endures and dreams.

Born of the islands, with a Mahoran mother and a Malagasy father, Zily reflects the Indian Ocean itself: richly influenced, deeply rooted, passed down through generations. From a young age, she found refuge and power in song. Her voice first rose in traditional ceremonies, sacred, communal spaces, and quickly became familiar, then vital. In Mayotte, everyone has grown up with a Zily song.

Her bond with her audience is not only heartfelt, it’s built on dedication. Since founding her label Yeka Music and her production house Yeka Production, she has created over 300 songs, most of them entirely written, composed, and performed by her. Each one born of cultural intimacy, yet driven by an artistic ambition with no borders.

Singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, Zily is a multifaceted woman with a voice that carries stories. She writes personalized wedding songs that become anthems of love, and protest songs that ripple through streets, draped in modern sounds. She blends afrobeat, amapiano, pop, and
traditional rhythms with rare ease — as if the whole world could speak through her native tongue, Shimaoré.

Her first international EP, Imani na Amani (Faith and Peace ) marked a turning point. Since then, the stages of Africa and the Indian Ocean have opened to her: Morocco, Tanzania, Reunion Island, Madagascar, Comoros, France… Everywhere she goes, she carries with her an island few have seen, but many feel when she sings.

Because Zily doesn’t just carry a voice. She carries a people. A memory. A pride. They call her “Queen Zily”, not as a title, but as a tribute, a queen of hearts, of emotions, of resistance. A queen of a living, breathing art form. In 2024, her journey was chronicled in the musical documentary Ndzozi –
Zily’s Dreams, broadcast on French national television. There, we glimpse an artist in constant pursuit of meaning, of justice, of beauty. Zily is more than an artist. She is a force. A wave. A woman who turns tradition into movement, pain into light, and silence into song.