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This is a list of notable Malagasy musicians and musical groups.
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th largest country overall. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.
The Comoros is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, mostly an independent nation but also including the French territory of Mayotte. It is historically linked to both East Africa and France, and now has a strong Malagasy influence. Zanzibar's taarab music, however, remains the most influential genre on the islands, and a Comorian version called twarab is popular. Leading twarab bands include Sambeco and Belle Lumière, as well as singers including Chamsia Sagaf and Mohammed Hassan.
The highly diverse and distinctive music of Madagascar has been shaped by the musical traditions of Southeast Asia, Africa, Oceania, Arabia, Portugal, England, France and the United States over time as indigenous people, immigrants, and colonists have made the island their home. Traditional instruments reflect these widespread origins: the mandoliny and kabosy owe their existence to the introduction of the guitar by early Arab or European seafarers, the ubiquitous djembe originated in mainland Africa and the valiha—the bamboo tube zither considered the national instrument of Madagascar—directly evolved from an earlier form of zither carried with the first Austronesian settlers on their outrigger canoes.
Sega is one of the major music genres of Mauritius and Réunion. It is a complete performance art, involving music, story-telling and traditional dance. Musically, the most modern forms common in Mauritius are its fusion genre Seggae and bhojpuri variations, whilst in Réunion we find the addition of maloya, the latter being much closer to the older, typical music influences originating from Madagascar. The variety of different sega forms is reflected in the multi-ethnic populous of the indigenous population of Mauritius.
"Ry Tanindrazanay malala ô!" is the national anthem of Madagascar. The lyrics were written by Pasteur Rahajason, and the music by Norbert Raharisoa. It is similar to a march and was strongly influenced by European music and the French colonial education system. It is often played by Malagasy musicians on the accordion.
The Malagasy are a group of Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the island country of Madagascar, formed through generations of interaction between Austronesians originally from southern Borneo and Bantus from Southeast Africa. Traditionally, the population have been divided into sub-ethnic groups. Examples include "Highlander" groups such as the Merina and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra (Ambatondrazaka) and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" such as the Sakalava, Bara, Vezo, Betsimisaraka, Mahafaly, etc.
The Malagasy or striped civet, also known as the fanaloka or jabady, is an euplerid endemic to Madagascar. It is the only species in genus Fossa.
Eupleridae is a family of carnivorans endemic to Madagascar and comprising 10 known living species in seven genera, commonly known as euplerids, Malagasy mongooses or Malagasy carnivorans. The best known species is the fossa, in the subfamily Euplerinae. All species of Euplerinae were formerly classified as viverrids, while all species in the subfamily Galidiinae were classified as herpestids.
Eusèbe Jaojoby, commonly known by his surname Jaojoby, is a Malagasy composer and singer of salegy, a musical style of northwestern Madagascar. Critics consider him to be one of the originators of the modern salegy style that emerged in the 1970s, and credit him with transforming the genre from an obscure regional musical tradition into one of national and international popularity. Jaojoby also contributed to the creation of two salegy subgenres, malessa and baoenjy. Jaojoby has been called the most popular singer in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, and is widely referred to as the "King of Salegy". His success has earned him such honors as Artist of the Year in Madagascar for two consecutive years (1998–1999) and the role of Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999.
Malagasy mythology is rooted in oral history and has been transmitted by storytelling, notably the Andriambahoaka epic, including the Ibonia cycle. At least 6% of Madagascar are adherents of the religion, which is known as Fomba Gasy, and surveys show it is likely at least half practice some aspects of it. Adherence to Fomba Gasy is high amongst the Sakalava people, as they are reluctant to convert to faiths of foreign origin.
Events from the year 1947 in France.
The Malagasy Lutheran Church is one of the most important Christian churches in Madagascar, established in 1950 by the unification of 1,800 Lutheran congregations in central and southern Madagascar. The oldest of these congregations was founded in the early 19th century with the arrival of missionaries from the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS).
The Barito languages are around twenty Austronesian languages of Indonesia (Borneo), plus Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar, and the Sama–Bajaw languages around the Sulu Archipelago. They are named after the Barito River located in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Malagasy is an Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is an official language of Madagascar alongside French.
Maanyan or Maʼanyan is an Austronesian language belonging to the East Barito languages. It is spoken by about 150,000 Ma'anyan people living in the province of Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is most closely related to the Malagasy language spoken in Madagascar, although these languages are not mutually intelligible due to the geographical separation.
The Malagasy Sign Language is a sign language used for communication among hearing impaired people in Madagascar. An estimated 110,000 to 170,000 people are deaf. Malagasy Sign Language is similar to Norwegian Sign Language because the first deaf school in Madagascar was founded in 1960 by the Malagasy Lutheran Church with the assistance of a number of Norwegians, including Norwegian teachers. That said, a large number of signs in Malagasy Sign seem to be completely unrelated to their Norwegian Sign counterparts. Seven deaf schools in Madagascar are sponsored by Evangelical Lutherans.
Philibert Rabezoza, better known by the name Rakoto Frah, was a flautist and composer of traditional music of the central highlands of Madagascar. Born in 1923 near the capital city of Antananarivo to a poor rural family, Rakoto Frah surmounted the challenges posed by his underprivileged origins to become the most acclaimed 20th century performer of the sodina flute, one of the oldest traditional instruments on the island. Through frequent international concerts and music festival performances, he promoted the music of the highlands of Madagascar and became one of the most famous Malagasy artists, both within Madagascar and on the world music scene.
The Colony of Madagascar and Dependencies was a French colony off the coast of Southeast Africa between 1897 and 1958 in what is now Madagascar. The colony was formerly a protectorate of France known as Malagasy Protectorate. The protectorate became a colony, following Queen Ranavalona III's exile to Réunion.
Andrianary Ratianarivo (1895-1949) was a pianist and composer of kalon'ny fahiny,vakondrazana and ba-gasy music from the central highlands of Madagascar. He was a major composer for the Malagasy theatrical genre that reached its peak between 1920 and 1940 at the Theatre d'Isotry in Antananarivo. Ratianarivo was born in the year of Madagascar's colonization to a musician of the royal palace. His pieces were typically written for piano, often with solo, duet or choral vocal accompaniment sung in the Malagasy language. He was classically trained as a conductor and composed over 500 songs and scores for theater, including an opera penned by Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo entitled Imaitsoanala (1935), which remains the only Malagasy opera. In 1929 he formed "Troupe Jeanette" in Antananarivo with musicians Rakaramanga and Jeanette; this group, with new artists, continues to perform at the Theatre d'Isotry to the present. His songs form part of the canon of classical Malagasy piano music. A street in downtown Antananarivo is named after him.
The literature of Madagascar encompasses the oral and written literary arts of the Malagasy people.