RFI Musique - - Anniversaire Afrique - Independence and music: Madagascar, land of Surfs and salegy

Independence and music: Madagascar, land of Surfs and salegy

The voice of Indian Ocean islands

Paris

06/08/2010 -

At the time it gained political independence, the island of Madagascar, which played a strong cultural role in the region, started developing and modernizing its tradition-inspired music, and even dabbling with a western sound.

send

react

“Ah oui, vraiment, tu es jolie dans ton lamba blanc.” (Oh yeah, you look really good in your white sarong.) With these French lyrics, Henri Ratsimbazafy sang the first major Malagasy hit just after independence. His voice reached as far as the other islands in the Indian Ocean, especially Réunion, where he started performing in 1962. That same year, he won the first Grand Prix de la chanson française in Madagascar with Samba tyrolienne, and was on the winning list again the very next year. The man now revered as the country’s doyen of music first found fame with a style which shows that Tino Rossi and Gilbert Bécaud also made their mark under the Tropic of Capricorn.

Les Surfs

Although Madagascar is located around 10,000 kilometres from France – and through it, the West – its European cousin still had a cultural influence on many local musicians and singers. In June 1963, Le Courier de Madagascar newspaper dedicated its column entitled “Venez les copains” to an up-and-coming group: “At the moment Les Béryls tend to imitate the Golden Quartet, but some of their songs are closer to the Compagnons de la Chanson".

Barely half a year later, the group’s six brothers and sisters were “American stars” playing at Paris’s Olympia. In the meantime, they had changed their name to Les Surfs. With the string of hits they produced from adapting Anglo-Saxon numbers, Madagascar saw itself at the top of the charts in numerous countries. The Raberaona family’s international career fed the hopes of their compatriots, like CCC Guitares, another group known throughout the country, who renamed themselves Les Safari and tried their luck in France.

A label and a studio

From 1959, slightly ahead of the political authorities, the Malagasy music industry moved into the era of independence. 78 vinyl records, and then 45s, could be pressed on the island. The Comarmond family, key pioneers in the development of this economic-artistic activity, at the same time launched the Discomad label and acquired a studio to record the singers they produced.

This was all very different from the way things had happened in preceding decades. Then, Polydor, His Master’s Voice or Decca would make the recordings during specific missions. When their repertoires weren’t to do with ethnomusicology, they were usually dominated by theatrical singing known as Kalon’ ny fahiny, also referred to as Malagasy operetta and mainly found on the island’s high plains.

It was the era of the Analamanga and Jeannette Troupes, which played Rakoto de Monplaisir’s works all over the country. With the arrival of 45 rpm singles, records started to be seen as consumer items that were symbols of modernity, and this had a negative effect on traditional folklore.

Rakotozafy and Freddy Ranarison

Afindrafindrao, a local variant of square dancing music created at the end of the 19^th century, still remained a classic adopted by each new generation. At the start of the sixties, Rakotozafy, master of the Marovany harp, did his own version, as did Freddy Ranarison. The musician, hailing from the centre of the island, was a key figure on the Malagasy scene that was starting to find a foothold.

The man filled the role of an intermediary – he had a broad musical vision but didn’t try to imitate what was being done elsewhere and remained attached to the Indian Ocean’s culture. During his musical career, he could at times be heard performing a typical reunion-style sega, and at others promoting salegy music, which went on to become one of Madagascar’s calling cards.

This traditional style close to African rhythms was initially much played on the northern coast of the island, but the revolution really took hold with the arrival of electric instruments, which had much more power than the accordion used up till then.

Viavy Rose, which is often seen as one of the founding songs of modern salegy, was first interpreted in 1959 by the East Coast Folk Association. But it was the hit cover version by Freddy Ranarison a few years later that made it into such a classic and opened up the way for artists like Jaojoby, who took the music on to the international scene.