Tell a French person that a country is bigger than France and zee eyes will open wide with astonishment as they mutter, “putain! c’est grand!” Being Canadian I always find this hilarious. Imagine if I was to do the same thing: “Senegal, it’s like, bigger than Nova Scotia!”

Well, the island of Madagascar is bigger than France. It’s also a fascinating African country that boasts some of the most interesting music of the southern half of the continent.

We’ve listened to a bit of Tarika Sammy (and just Tarika) on Benn loxo before, and of course yesterday there was champagne and fireworks for our Malagasy 200th post celebration. With that in mind I stopped by the Médiathèque musicale de Paris last week and picked-up a Magasy album that I hadn’t heard of before. I got lucky with Rajery. Great find.

Rajery plays an instrument called a valiha that’s essentially a harp made from a large, hollowed piece of bamboo. It’s not a native Malagasy instrument – it originated in Indonesia – but it’s often used by the country’s musicians. Rajery plays his valiha over drums playing Antadroy and Western rhythms to produce a really cool sound. His singing is great too, and anyone with the slightest knowledge of contempoary Malagasy music will know that the vocal harmonies are rich, too.

Today’s tracks are off the Label Bleu / Indigo 2001 release, Fanaby.

Rajery – Hanatra
Rajery – Mainte