09 June 2013

Madagascar




Njava is a band from the southern Madagascar’s Antemoto tribe comprised of two sisters & three brothers. When they formed in the late 80s, after Madagascar was able to free itself from the tyranny of military rule ending nearly two decades of isolation, they were an electric band. Since the early 90s they have focused on traditional Malagasy music. Njava brings a modern sensibility to the traditional music of their homeland. They blend fluid guitar melodies, native percussion, & beautiful harmonies in an earthy yet sophisticated mix, striking a fine balance between old & new.

Their debut album, Vetse, was released in 1999. It was produced by influential Japanese producer Makoto Kubota.


On Vetse, the group’s five siblings are: Monique "Monika" Rasoanirina – vocals; Gabrielle "Lala" Raharimahala - vocals & percussion; Theogene "Dozzy" Randriamanpionana - guitar, marovany (a type of steel-string box zither from Madagascar used in Malagasy music), & vocals; Patrick "Pata" Randriamanjava – percussion & vocals; & Maximin "Max" Randriamanjava – bass & vocals.


 Njava – Veste, Hemisphere 99265, 1999. 
decryption code in comments

Tracklist –

Paoary
Hitologn’azy
Jiboty
Hallatsa
Belina
Vezon-Driaky
Taray
Vetse
Lahy Raty
Takaliro Mazava

Enjoy,
NØ




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5 comments:

  1. NØ6/9/13, 6:02 PM

    Ger-aBHZ3vDqHxTWEVCsmAiY7p5w3AnW9hX2QW9KY24

    ReplyDelete
  2. kalavinka9/17/13, 11:08 AM

    Appreciate your tremendous efforts for this project. For the more hard rocking aspect, not sure if you're familiar with Ktutu. The members were all from Madagascar but formed when they were living in Senegal. Computer, keyboards, guitars, and screaming. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=338313

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NØ9/17/13, 4:41 PM

      I'm not familiar with Ktutu but I'm going to definitely check them out. I like the more hard rocking...& compurt, keyboards, guitar, & screaming sounds perfect. Thanks for the comment & for the heads up. I'm heading to soundclick right now.

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    2. NØ9/17/13, 4:44 PM

      Man, the first song I listened to was "Song for the Lonely One". Kinda on the mellower ballad side for an alt-metal band, but I really loved the song. I'm downloading their stuff now to listen while I working on stuff. Thanks again for the heads up about Ktutu. I hope everyone reading this goes over to soundclick & checks them out.

      Delete
    3. kalavinka9/23/13, 3:19 PM

      I forgot how I got wind of them years ago, I think just by searching amateur band pages such as the soundclick link, but at first they had only a couple of songs available and those remain the most special to me (Death to FRA, The Fish Song, Farm of Uncle Tom, Nothing to Do, and one of the ballads I forgot the title to). I noticed that soundclick doesn't have "Death to FRA", for which they even made a homemade video that seems to no longer be online. I still haven't figured out what FRA stands for but I'm incredibly ignorant in many areas.

      Delete