Madagascar Redux
The absorbing music of this island still never ceases to grab my attention,
from the full throttle pop of Tarika to the solo accordion of Regis Gizavo
and the marovany of Madame Masy. Thefollowing two recordings, both made in the
mid-1990's, come closer to completing an overview of the island's folk
traditions.
It's particularly exciting to get another volume in the continuing
adventures of Malagasy musical explorer Birger Gesthuisen, this one titled
Madagascar 4: Music of the North (Feuer und Eis / [email protected]). On his 1995 outing, engineered
by Bernard Ramroth, we visit the northern section of the nation in this
street level recording of accordion soloists, valiha masters, some
exquisite choral music and exhilarating ensembles. Setting this set apart
from the previous three volumes in the series are what Gesthuisen refers to
as "traces of the Orient." These are heard in some unique tracks of an
instrument called kabiro, a reed instrument, and a mouth bow used in
ensembles. The Muslims of Madagascar live primarily in this area, and the
middle-eastern and eastern influences are to be found in a number of tracks
on the album. As always, excellent historical and music notes accompany
this recording, making the whole series an essential property for anyone
seriously interested in the music. This completes the Feuer und Eis
Madagascar series, which is now available as a boxed set called Malagasy
Music Box.
Madagascar: Pays Mikea (Ocora/France, via Harmonia Mundi) looks to the
south-west, to the Mikea country north of the coastal city of Toliary. The
opening ringa (fighting match) song features conch, drums (a double headed
one called a langoro) and whistling. This is followed by some hocketed
singing (referred to as "yodelled chant" in the notes) that is especially
interesting. There are a number of tracks that feature groups of kiloloky,
reed whistles that are played in a round-robin fashion, each whistler
supplying only one note of the melody. Box zithers (marovany), musical
bows, some wonderful xylophones complete the sounds of this region. As
always with a Radio France recording, these are well recorded and
annotated. - CF
Here's some music from the Madagaskar 4 recording (Real Audio):
see also: Madagascar Recording Reviews
The kabiro is a local oboe, played here by Jaotoly from northern Madagascar.
Troupe Abdallah shows some of the Muslim influence in this ensemble piece for voices, kabiro, percussion and accordion, "You Should Know The Meaning Of Shame."
Tracks are both traditional, used by permission of Feuer und Eis.
