Madagascar music reviews

Subtitled BEASTS, GHOSTS AND DANCING WITH HISTORY, Madagascar's Tarika's latest cd 10 blends an electric bass drive with totally indigenous acoustic instruments, soaring vocals, and get-it-on and party attitudes: does it get any better than this?
�Madagascar is home to some of the world's most unique animals, and has music to match them. Ethnically, the people are a combination of Malay and Black African.
�The folk traditions of the island where Tarika is deeply rooted reflect the old traditions of these two cultures as well as West Africa (people brought to Madagascar as soldiers by Colonial overlords) and the sounds drifting out of nearby Mozambique and South Africa.
�The result: wow! Group vocals so sweet, delicate strings (particularly the veliha, which sounds a bit like West African Kora but looks nothing like it), and other instruments similar to guitars, some acoustic, some plugged in. Add a small talking drum, and away we go.
Tarika split off from another great Madagascar roots group Tarika Samy ten years ago; hence the name of their latest album 10, which is a 'Best Of' collection where guest musicians help fill out their sound and give even more of an international flavor (but it still sounds uniquely Malagasy).
�Hanitra, the female leader of Tarika, has now opened a cultural center to try to preserve the island's unique traditions: Tarika rehearses and performs there on a regular basis.

I thought this CD was going to be a boring one since it is a digitally remastered version of a 1930s recording, but I was dead wrong. It is a very old, thus faithfull recording of songs mainly from the Merina Kingdom (Antananarivo.) Many of the songs are still sung today, with slight variation, in Malagasy backyard when kids play or when families gather. The discovery of the record from which this CD was made must have been a great find, but I admire the minds of the people behind the new recording even more. For people who want to find a real, not just the Pop Malagasy music, this is a good CD to have.

I agree that the album is diverse, colorful... It's a rare treat... but the fluate/accordion song is a heinous sound that I would not want to subject any person to.

I can't let the previous reviewer get away with such a lame comment regarding this lovely little compilation without a rebuttal. I bought Madagasikara One shortly after it came out on vinyl in 1986 and have adored it every since. Thoroughly upbeat and at the same time relaxing, this is one of the best albums among hundreds in my collection of so-called world music discs. I guarantee you'll return to this album time after time.

Njava is a Madagascar band made up of 5 siblings. Lead singer Monika and sister Lala have smoky alto voices, and brother Dozzy is up there with D'Gary and Tarika Sammy's Johnny as a guitar virtuoso. If you like D'Gary's music, give this a try. The music has a dreamy, mesmerizing quality. The songwriting isn't as strong as some other Malagasy bands. In particular, the vocal melodies aren't very memorable -- the guitar melodies are catchier. The CD includes two a cappella songs. My favorite tracks are "Jiboty", "Vetse", and "Lahy Raty".

After listening to the music samples , I found that there's a mistake somewhere. They have nothing to do with the titles or the artist (EJEMA-Madagascar).

The music is great from a fabulous label. Somehow this picture of a classical CD got placed here.

I love Malagasy music. From the scratchy, salvaged recordings on "The Music Of Madagascar: Classic Traditional Recordings Of The 1930s" to the more western-influenced work of David Lindley and Henry Kaiser on the "A World Out Of Time" series, the voices, instrumentation, and rhythms are infectious. So I was disappointed not to find more to like on "Awakening the Spirits". This is not a musical CD in any normal sense of the word. More accurately, these are ethnographic field recordings of Sakalava (one of the ethnic tribes in Madagascar) trance rituals. These are not "performed" for entertainment, they are part of religious ceremonies meant to cleanse and heal the sick. While the recording is technically acceptable, the content is very repetitious and often disharmonious to western ears. This is an important recording for the anthropologist or ethnomusicologist; it is not for the casual listener. There is enough really good, pleasing Malagasy music out on CD that I would recommend passing this up in favor of something more mainstream.

Not for the faint of heart, this album had a jarring effect on me the first time I heard it. Each song blends into the next and the overall grating impression is of plunked strings which underscore monotonous wailing in Malagasy. The melodies are repetitive and not likely to have wide cross-over appeal to Western listeners. I would like to say that I have a gained a greater appreciation for Sakalava music since I moved to Madagascar, but these chants still get on my last nerve. The one halfway catchy tune, accompanied by clapping, is track #4 "E ly e." The musical bow featured on several tracks is also intriguing -- particularly because it is not cluttered by the tuneless wailing which characterizes the other songs. Ditto for the flutes and lutes. If you do buy this CD, listen for and enjoy the traditional instruments, but I have to say I'm glad this is not all Madagascar has to offer.