Listen to these three songs. Each song draws you inside it, starting at its surface and proceeding into its core. If you feel yourself resisting the exotic, pretend that you’re watching your favorite indie-rock group performing a new composition of theirs, live, as an encore surprise, with lyrics in English.
(photo of Irma Ratazanina)
The first is “Zaza Somondrara” by D’Gary playing guitar, Irma Ratazanina singing, and some percussion and male back-up vocals. D’Gary is Madagascar’s most famous guitarist. This song is from his 2001 CD _Akata Meso_. A few years ago I was driving my young teenage daughter and her friends somewhere and played it for them, much to my daughter’s dismay. I told them that it had a rhythm that Usher would die for, and one of the girls in the back seat laughed hard at the idea.
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I love all three of these! When I joined Mog, I hoped to find folks who knew where the good stuff was buried in distant lands.
Thanks for the Madagascarian glimpse!
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All three of these cuts are magical. I'm slightly acquainted with D'Gary's - his virtuosity is not only remarkable, but is attached to emotion and an astonishing feel for dynamics. He is single- (or, more accurately, double-) handedly polyrhythmic. The other two songs are also charming, but much more in the bargain. The Rakotozafy cut reminds me of watching sega dancing in Mauritius, but the music is a ton better. That same uptempo 3/4 - I can see why Rakotozafy would be insistent that his son do it right, though manslaughter does seem to be taking things a bit too far. And I love that last track's harmonies - there's an almost Pacific Islands feel to it.
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I'm glad you guys liked them. Ivylander, it's actually a 3/4 waltz? Now I'm impressed. The last track's harmonies may be because of the British; I've noticed that their African ex-colonies generally have easier-to-digest folk music.
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Nifty? Are you kidding me? These 3 little tunes are an absolute delight. I don't think I can say anything clever about your choices. All 3 cuts are highly pleasurable.
D'Gary's guitar playing sound like the trade winds - dreamy and heart-warming. Rakotozafy's track is like a sprightly dance, as Ivy said. His sounds like a very tragic life. Hiran’ny Tanoran’ny Ntao Lo's sounds very much like a work song (I might be mistaken): I really like how the harmonies are called forth by the lead singer and then the chorus comes in.
Brilliant post as always, Spike.
Now if I may, how do you come across such an array of extraordinary music? Is it personal tastes and boundless curiosity or do you work in music? (ethnomusicology, perhaps?)
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Bartleby, I hoped you would enjoy these. To answer your question: my array relentlessly bloated itself across my shelves in a manner familiar to most Moggers, though I probably started decades sooner than he average Mogger. It's not my fault, really. Certain cuts, albums or artists grabbed my ears and made me go after their brethren. It was more a reptilian than an intellectual response on my part. Now the cuts are forcing me to inflict them on other susceptible victims. Mog the enabler is helping make the process easier.
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Mog The Enabler sounds like an 8th-century Mongol ruler....
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ivylander, once again you crack me up.
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Dig, my friend, I apologise for only now giving this a listen, but this last track is particularly memsmerising. It's hard to believe when it was originally recorded. Kudos to the engineer! And thank you very much, as always. I'll be giving a better listen, I promise:)
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No need for an apology, my friend. Who can keep up with Mog Brain email? As for the audio fidelity of mesmerizing last track, maybe it was recorded in Paris or London; the CD's liner notes are not clear about that.
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Right on. Thank you. And for the record, the other two tracks and their histories are great, but that last one catches my soul's notice, for sure.