Razia (singer)

Last updated

Razia
Birth nameRazia Said
Born (1959-12-01) December 1, 1959 (age 64)
Origin Antalaha, Madagascar
Genres World music
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocal, guitar
Labels Cumbancha
Website www.raziasaid.com

Razia Said (born December 1, 1959) is a singer, songwriter and an environmental activist from Antalaha, Madagascar.

Contents

Career

Razia's music draws elements from Malagasy music and Afrobeats. She began incorporating features of jazz and R&B to her music after visiting New York in 1987. [1]

In 2006, Razia recorded her album Magical after relocating to New York. During her subsequent visits to Madagascar, she met Njava, one of the country's prominent musical groups. Inspired by her experiences in Madagascar, Razia began writing and recording songs in the Malagasy language,incorporating traditional sounds and melodies from her childhood. [2]

Razia's music often focuses on environmental issues, particularly the protection and preservation of Madagascar's natural environment. [3] She addresses the impacts of climate change and deforestation through her songs. [4] According to an article in Broadway World her album The Road features "a warm, welcoming set of songs that take us deep into the emotional reality of Razia's self-made, globe-spanning life." [5]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madagascar</span> Island country in the Indian Ocean

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country comprising 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 in the world. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheryl Crow</span> American musician (born 1962)

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and actress. She is noted for her optimistic and idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released twelve studio albums, five compilations, and three live albums, and contributed to several film soundtracks. Her most popular songs include "All I Wanna Do" (1994), "Strong Enough" (1994), "If It Makes You Happy" (1996), "Everyday Is a Winding Road" (1996), "My Favorite Mistake" (1998), "Picture", and "Soak Up the Sun" (2002).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alanis Morissette</span> Canadian-American musician (born 1974)

Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums. In 1995, she released the alternative rock album Jagged Little Pill, which sold more than 33 million copies globally and propelled her to become a cultural phenomenon. Morissette won the 1996 Grammy Award for Album of the Year among other accolades, and the album was adapted into a 2018 rock musical. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has Jagged Little Pill on their 200 Definitive Albums list, and it appeared on various editions of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" guide. Its lead single, "You Oughta Know", was also included on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carole King</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1942)

Carole King Klein is an American singer-songwriter and musician. One of the most successful female songwriters in the US, she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 over the latter half of the 20th century. She also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1962 and 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernadette Peters</span> American actress and singer (born 1948)

Bernadette Peters is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasia (singer)</span> American R&B singer (born 1984)

Fantasia Monique Barrino-Taylor, known professionally by her mononym Fantasia, is an American singer and actress. She rose to prominence in 2004 for her performance of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" during the third season of American Idol, and eventually became that season's winner. Following her victory, Barrino became the second woman to have her first single debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, following Lauryn Hill, when her debut single "I Believe", launched atop the chart. Her accolades include two Billboard Music Awards and a Grammy Award, along with nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award. In 2024, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Carlton</span> American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1980)

Vanessa Lee Carlton is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her debut album, Be Not Nobody (2002), released by A&M Records, received a platinum certification in the United States, and her debut single "A Thousand Miles" spent 41 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned three Grammy nominations. The album also spawned the singles "Ordinary Day" and "Pretty Baby". Her next album, Harmonium (2004) debuted at number 33 on the Billboard 200. The album marked a stalwart divergence from pressure from record label executives who wanted to influence the recording. After departing from A&M in 2005, Carlton released Heroes & Thieves in 2007. Despite minimal chart success, the album was a critical success, receiving praise from Metacritic, AllMusic, PopMatters, and USA Today.

Annie Golden is an American actress and singer. She first came to prominence as the lead singer of the punk band the Shirts from 1975 to 1981 with whom she recorded three albums. She began her acting career as Mother in the 1977 Broadway revival of Hair; later taking on the role of Jeannie Ryan in the 1979 film version of the musical. Other notable film credits include Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Baby Boom (1987), Longtime Companion (1989), Strictly Business (1991), Prelude to a Kiss (1992), 12 Monkeys (1995), The American Astronaut (2001), It Runs in the Family (2003), Adventures of Power (2008), and I Love You Phillip Morris (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idina Menzel</span> American actress (born 1971)

Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress and singer. Particularly known for her work in musicals on Broadway, she has been nicknamed the "Queen of Broadway" for her commanding stage presence, powerful mezzo-soprano, and reputation as one of the most influential stage actors of her generation. Having achieved mainstream success across stage, screen, and music, her accolades include an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for three Drama League Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards. In 2019, Menzel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was named a Disney Legend in 2022. Menzel received a honorary doctorate from University of Pennsylvania in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Espinosa</span> American actress and singer (born 1978)

Eden Erica Espinosa is an American actress and singer who is best known for her performances as Elphaba for the Broadway, Los Angeles, and San Francisco productions of the musical Wicked. In 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role as the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Wonderland Bakery. In 2024, Espinosa received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Lempicka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anaïs Mitchell</span> American singer-songwriter

Anaïs Mitchell is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including Hadestown (2010), Young Man in America (2012), Child Ballads (2013), and Anaïs Mitchell (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eusèbe Jaojoby</span> Composer and singer from Madagascar

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.

The Mikea are a group of Malagasy-speaking horticulturalists and foragers who are often described as the lowland hunter-gatherers of Madagascar. They inhabit the Mikea Forest, a patch of mixed spiny forest and dry deciduous forest along the coast of southwestern Madagascar. The Mikea are predominantly of Sakalava origin, although the term describes a shared way of life rather than an ethnic group per se, and individuals from a variety of Malagasy ethnic groups are found among the Mikea. The family encampments of the Mikea shift from prime corn planting territory at the edge of the forest in the rainy season to the interior forest rich with tenrecs and other game in the dry season, when the community becomes highly dependent on spongy tubers to meet their daily demand for water. Their lifestyle is interdependent with that of their neighboring Vezo fishermen and the Masikoro farmers and herders, with whom they trade products caught, foraged or cultivated in the forest. Many Mikea also occasionally engage in paid work such as guarding the zebu herds or tending the corn fields of others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Fuchs</span> American singer and songwriter (born 1976)

Dana Fuchs is an American singer and songwriter known for a mix of Southern rock, soul, roots, and blues. She played Sadie in the film Across the Universe, her performance described by The New York Times as "triumphal".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingrid Michaelson</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1979)

Ingrid Ellen Michaelson is an American singer and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malagasy cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Madagascar

Malagasy cuisine encompasses the many diverse culinary traditions of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. Foods eaten in Madagascar reflect the influence of Southeast Asian, African, Oceanian, Indian, Chinese and European migrants that have settled on the island since it was first populated by seafarers from Borneo between 100 CE and 500 CE. Rice, the cornerstone of the Malagasy diet, was cultivated alongside tubers and other Southeast Asian and Oceanian staples by these earliest settlers. Their diet was supplemented by foraging and hunting wild game, which contributed to the extinction of the island's bird and mammal megafauna. These food sources were later complemented by beef in the form of zebu introduced into Madagascar by East African migrants arriving around 1,000 CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Madagascar</span>

The culture of Madagascar reflects the origins of the Malagasy people in Southeast Asia, East Africa and Oceania. The influence of Arabs, Indians, British, French and Chinese settlers is also evident.

The Tandroy are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group of Madagascar inhabiting the arid southern part of the island called Androy, tracing their origins back to the East Africa mainland. In the 17th century however, the Tandroy emerged as a confederation of two groups ruled by the Zafimanara dynasty until flooding caused the kingdom to disband around 1790. The difficult terrain and climate of Tandroy protected and isolated the population, sparing them from subjugation by the Kingdom of Imerina in the 19th century; later, the French colonial authority also struggled to exert its influence over this population. Since independence the Tandroy have suffered prejudice and economic marginalization, prompting widespread migration and intermarriage with other ethnic groups, and leading them to play a key role in protests that sparked the end of President Philibert Tsiranana's administration in 1972.

<i>Zebu Nation</i> 2010 studio album by Razia

Zebu Nation is Razia Said's first album on the U.S. based label Cumbancha. On the album, Razia sings about the damage deforestation has had on the natural environment of her native island, Madagascar. Razia Said engages the Malagasy style she grew up with while blending the jazz and R&B sounds she became familiar with while living in New York City. Razia recorded the album as her way of fighting for the environment and her home land. The title references the reason for Madagascar's destruction: the zebu, a breed of cattle. Madagascar's forests are destroyed by method of slash-and-burn to create pastures for grazing animals like zebu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malagasy nationality law</span>

Malagasy nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Madagascar, as amended; the Malagasy Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Madagascar. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual and the nation. Malagasy nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Madagascar, or jus sanguinis, born to parents with Malagasy nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.

References

  1. Matthew, Keyte (November 13, 2015). "Razia Said And The Wake Up Madagascar Project". Culture Trip. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  2. Hochman, Steven (February 2, 2010). "Razia's Prodigal Return to Imperiled Madagascar". Spinner (AOL). Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  3. Nickson, Chris. "'Zebu Nation' – Review". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  4. "Razia Said". The Lemur Conservation Foundation.
  5. Hartshorn, Tori. "RAZIA Releases New CD, THE ROAD, on October 19". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved July 19, 2022.

Further reading