Malagasy Steps

Featuring Monja Manintsindava . Afindrafindrao . Wawa . Izio Anao Navy . Kama Kaosa . Mangaliba Refamo De Vangaindrano . Salegy Sotrasotra . Ninie Doniah . Hely . Bory . Salegy . Ny Voninavoko . Waliwala . Salegy Mafonja . Tsiliva . I Love You

Wikipedia : Salegy is a funky, tight, energetic form of dance music dominated by ringing electric guitars, accordion (real or synthesizer), and call-and-response polyphonic vocals, propelled by heavy electric bass and a driving percussion section. Salegy is something of an electrified version of the antsa musical style that was traditionally performed at Betsimisaraka and Tsimihety rituals.

RFI Musique : The “King of Salegy” is the nickname given to Jaojoby by his fellow countrymen. This is enough to show that he holds an important place in the most popular music in Madagascar.

Mena blues : “Fruit of the meeting between modern African musics and local rural musics, Tsapikyis a tradition originating in the area of Tuléar, in the south-west of the island of Madagascar. Still little known of the external world, Tsapiky has however been affirmed in Masikoro country for more than twenty years.

Charlie Gillet : I also met a Malagasy music expert, drummer and organiser who told me more about the traditional “sarandra” style music, and played me some great “straight from the bush” tracks. Really haunting half-tones sung in a wailing form accompanied by the mangaliba rythm.

W.A.R. : In general, more rhythmic songs are found on the coast, while songs from the inland are slower and more for relaxing. Nowadays, musics are played with sophisticated modern instruments but specificity is normally added using traditional ones.

CD The Roots : Tulear is a city in the remote, hot and dusty southwest of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. At nighttime, when the burning day has cooled a little, tsapiky bands play at wild open-air dances in every neighborhood of the city. Over belting singers and tireless drummers, fearsome guitarists scatter dazzling fractured lines of notes. Crowds of revelers, most of them swigging from bottles of toka (the local rum), dance all night.

Amazon : Salegy is a fast 12/8 dance beat that is very popular in Madagascar, and Eusebe Jaojoby is nicknamed “The King of Salegy”. This 1992 album was his first to be released in the U.S. and Europe. It includes a new recording of his biggest hit, 1988’s “Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady”.

EscapeArtist.com : It is only in these places that you will listen and dance to the real sound of Malagasy music. The most local colour night club are the Zazaclub in Tulear, the Papagayo and the Vieux Port in Nosy Be, the Indra, the Bus, the Glacier, and the Cahïba in Antananarivo.