Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, 400km East of Africa, close to Reunion Island, Mauritius, and Seychelles. This collection is devoted to the music of the Antanosy, found in the South of the Island. The Sarandra is predominantly an intensely emotional vocal genre, often played at funerals, though it is commonly accompanied by a lute, often called a mandaly. This instrument is typically played at breakneck speed with the vocal wailing or shrieking over the top. The vocals, almost all female on this disc are really quite incredible, intense, often violent sounding or anguished, regularly causing pain to the singer – this is real music of passion. The notes are held for long periods of time, pitched up high to reflect the anguish, it’s quite remarkable. Particularly when there is string accompaniment, with sounds incredibly similar to the string bands of Papua New Guinea or sped up Hawaiian music. It’s not solely about vocals, there are flute solos, xylophone (which is played exclusively by women) and the aforementioned lutes, however the vocals are simply amazing, some of the tones and nuances, often created acappella simply defy description. You have never heard vocals like this.
Bob Baker Fish
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