MADAJAZZCAR 2008 (from October 6th to 18th)

 Madajazzcar is a festival of jazz music organized here in Madagascar every year since 1989. Next year, then, Madajazzcar will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

 Honestly, I do not personally like jazz music. But yesterday (Monday, October 13th, 2008), I got two invitations for the Madajazzcar concert from my office. Well, it is not usual for Malagasy people to go out on Mondays (we only have outings on week-ends), I decided to attend the show anyway. I said to myself that it could be a good occasion for me to discover jazz music.

As I knew that Andry loved jazz music. I invited him to come to the concert with me. So we went there together.

Guitar Wood Band

The show started a little bit later than 7.00 p.m. with “Guitar Wood Band”. In the band, I could recognize Rolf, Naday, Fataka. There were two other guys. I found their names – Joël Rabesolo and Lucas Jaojoby – in the brochure I took at the gate at the end of the show. I felt astonished and happy at the same time, okay, let’s say, impressed that these young guys of “Guitar Wood Band” fight for the protection of the environment through their music. They even had a little story in English.

Datita Rabeson

Then, Datita Rabeson and his band came on the stage. Andry was extremely happy. He told me that Datita is the greatest jazzman of Madagascar. Well, I have to admit it; their music was just wonderful (a little bit long anyway because each composition lasted more than 10 minutes).

African Jazz Pioneers

Madajazzcar is not only for Malagasy jazzmen but for many other jazzmen from all over the world as well. Yesterday, it was the turn of the famous South African jazz band “African Jazz Pioneers”. The South African Ambassador of Madagascar was really proud to introduce the band to Malagasy people. I was surprised when he said that “African Jazz Pioneers” would make us all vibe and dance. I know, Malagasy people are not used to dance at a show (the young generation starts to change) but the Ambassador was right, we all vibe on our seats. They were really cool.

I would not say that I fell in love with jazz music after this show but I would not deny that it is a good one.

 While watching the singers, I could notice one thing that the three jazz bands of yesterday commonly had. They did not have eyes interaction with the audience or did but very rarely. They were all seriously concentrated on their guitars, keyboards, drum… while their heads were following the rhythms. Other thing, they had no specific look; they could wear jeans, tee shirt or whatever they wanted; a guy had long hair… This was not the case of the “African Jazz Pioneers” band, they all wore their Sunday clothes [cute]. We quitted the show while the public claimed for one more song from the South African band. It was 9:50 p.m. It was late for me because I would still have to go to work early in the morning the day after.

To sum up: My Monday evening? It was cool.

ariniaina