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Sisca<\/b><\/p>\n
\nMany years ago, Matthew Temple’s\u00a0Matsuli Music<\/i><\/a>\u00a0blog posted a series of fifty compilations, African Serenades.<\/i> Back in 2007, I assembled a two-part installment for\u00a0African Serenades<\/i>, Vol. 47 Pts. 1 & 2: African Divas<\/i>.\u00a0Later I posted them here on Likembe <\/i>as African Divas Vol. 1<\/a><\/i> and\u00a0African Divas\u00a0<\/i>Vol. 2<\/a><\/i>, which you can still download (follow the links)! Our good friend Ken Abrams later weighed in with two more volumes in the series. You can get\u00a0African Divas\u00a0<\/i>Vol. 4 <\/i>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For a long time I’ve been wanting to do another installment in the African Divas<\/i> series. My idea for these collections is to get only the best music by female singers, eighty minutes or a CD’s worth in each one, with the caveat that each installment would feature only <\/i>artists that hadn’t appeared in earlier volumes. By those criteria I easily have enough great music for at least two more sets.<\/p>\n However, I got sidetracked a while back. Lately the African music blogosphere has brought forth some excellent music from Madagascar – for instance, on the blogs\u00a0Wallahi le Zein<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lola Vandaag<\/a>. In search of more of these sounds, I took to YouTube, and discovered something I should have known already: If you’re interested in what people in Africa are listening to right now<\/i>, YouTube is where it’s at, in all its crass, commercial, raw, AutoTuned glory. There’s an incredible variety of sounds that don’t make it to mainstream European and North American African music releases, which often contain music that’s twee, deracinated or 20 to 30 years old.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the subject of this post. I discovered something else: If you’re in the market for talented female singers, Madagascar is the motherlode! There is an amazing diversity there, enough for a whole volume of African Divas<\/i>, and probably more.<\/p>\n So I present to you this collection. My aim with Malagasy Divas<\/i> was to gather only the best of Malagasy chanteuses<\/i>, with as much variety as possible. The first half features the folkish sounds of Njava and Hanitra Ranaivo, the jazzy Faniah and Minah Bolimakoa, the “bubblegum music” of Wendy Cathalina, techno-pop hits by Tence Mena, A\u00efna Quach, and Black Nadia, even a reggae tune by Dah’ Mama! Part Two covers two geographical extremes – pumped-up salegy<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>from northwestern Madagascar by Perle Noire and Sisca, and raw, electrified tsapiky<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>by Rasoa Kininike, Mizeha, Mirasoa and Mahafaly Mihisa from the southwest corner of the country.<\/p>\n With the exception of two tracks, all of the tunes here were downloaded from YouTube, so the sound quality is not always up to snuff, i.e. there’s a fair amount of\u00a0 digital\u00a0clipping<\/a>. I tried to correct for this with audio software, but the results were not satisfactory, so I left the files the way they were. It’s not too distracting. From all the wonderful material that was available, it was very difficult trying to winnow it down to 80 minutes, so I’ve thrown in some videos that aren’t <\/i>included on Malagasy Divas<\/i>. Here’s the tracklist:<\/p>\n \n1. Paoary – Njava Let’s discuss the artists.<\/p>\n Njava <\/a><\/b>was founded in Europe by a group of five brothers and sisters from Morondava in western Madagascar. They achieved international fame in the ’90s with the groups Deep Forest and African Diva, and released two CDs. Two members of the group, Monika and Lala Njava, have gone on to solo careers. Monika sings lead on “Paoary,” from Njava’s 1999 album Vetse<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n The eclectic sound of\u00a0<\/b>Faniah<\/a>\u00a0(full name Faniah Ramalanjaona)\u00a0draws on jazz, R&B and Malagasy traditions. She came to notice in the reality show Pazzapa <\/i>in Madagascar in 2004 and assiduously built a career until releasing her first album, Lavitra Ahy…<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>in 2017, from which “Ny Foko No Mibaiko,” (“My Heart Decides”) is taken.<\/p>\n Hanitra Ranaivo<\/a><\/b>\u00a0was born in 1962 in\u00a0Fianarantsoa, south central Madagascar. She established herself in the early ’80s as a member of the folk-pop group Lolo Sy Ny Tariny. The band relocated to France later in the decade and subsequently dissolved, its members, among them Erick Manana<\/a>, forging successful solo careers. Hanitra self-released her first solo album, Omeko Anao<\/a><\/i>, containing “Raopilany,” featured here.<\/p>\n Called “The Black Panther of Malagasy Funk,” Minah Bolimakoa<\/a><\/b>, from the northeast corner of the Red Island, has established herself as a model as well as a chanteuse<\/i>. “Tsara Ny Tany” (“The Earth is Good”) from last year, is only the most recent of her numerous hits. Here’s a video of another one:<\/p>\n
2. Ny Foko No Ni Mbaiko – Faniah
3. Raopilany – Hanitra Ranaivo
4. Tsara Ny Tany \u2013 Minah Bolimakoa
5. Je T’emm\u00e8nerai – A\u00efna Quach
6. Miangotro \u2013 Wendy Cathalina
7. Papa Money – Black Nadia w. H’Mia
8. Tompinbady \u2013 Tence Mena
9. Nahazo Ny Tiako – Dah’ Mama
10. Salama Salimina \u2013 Perle Noire
11. Manambaly Mampirafy \u2013 Rasoa Kininike
12. Vorom-Be – Mizeha
13. Mahapotake – Mirasoa
14. Berene – Mahafaly Mihisa
15. Tara Baly – Sisca<\/p><\/blockquote>\n