Word: rasoanaivo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...trans-Indian-Oceanic pilgrimage to Sulawesi, the Indonesian home island of the first settlers of Madagascar, in search of the roots of their roots. The mesmerizing result, Soul Makassar, aims to transcend the local and the global, melding guitar and organ with traditional string instruments. On Aretina, singer Rasoanaivo Hanitrarivo bemoans finding many Sulawesi people ashamed of their own music, preferring Western pop: "You can hear something different/But it is hidden and not played with pride...
...pilgrimage and hearing this kind of lament from Westerners, from whom it betrays a kind of reverse Ugly Americanism, a tourist's disappointment that the natives won't be more authentic. But Tarika has no problem following Aretina with a cover of the Ronettes' Be My Baby, which Rasoanaivo remembers first hearing sung in Malagasy...
...Rasoanaivo Hanitrarivo (pronounced Rah-SAH-nay-vo An-EEH-tray-va), singer-songwriter for the Malagasi band Tarika, confesses that she has adopted "a little bit of professionalism" since the group started touring internationally a few years ago. "Instead of using bicycle-brake cables, I use piano cables," she says, referring to the components of her myriad stringed instruments...
...Rasoanaivo seems loath to make any further concessions to foreign ways, at least when it comes to her band. The purist aesthetic of Tarika's music--"It's 90% Madagascar," she says--testifies to her deep suspicion of globalization. "No one knows the good and bad any longer/The target becomes only to participate/No one fights for the differences," she sings on Disease, a track from Tarika's most recent CD, Soul Makassar (Triloka). Rasoanaivo draws a distinction between what she calls "roots music" and everything else. "Roots music," she explains, "means doing something you really feel in your blood rather...
...alternative to the homogenized pop culture Rasoanaivo decries, Tarika offers Madagascar's folk music, which combines the traditions of Indonesia and the African mainland (Indonesians settled the island thousands of years ago). Vocal harmonies as warm and light as Bornean breezes blend seamlessly with playful African polyrhythms. The disparate elements are held together by the rock-solid consistency of Randrianasolomalala Victor's drumming and the conviction in Rasoanaivo's vocals: the soul, perhaps, referred to in the album title...
| 1 |