Tarika

It's not just a Malagasy thing any more...

Take California, add some 50%, and you've got Madagascar, one of the biggest islands in the world, lying off the East coast of Africa. Its population came originally from Polynesia and Africa. Slaves were brought to, and taken from, the place. And it has some of the most fascinating music you'll here anywhere, drawing on sounds that bring Africa, Indonesia, Polynesia, and even South America to mind - often all at the same time. The perfectly natural fusion is perhaps best exemplified by Tarika (which translates, simply, as ‘the group'). Their new album, D (Green Linnet), reworks old Malagasy 45s from the Seventies as well as adding a handful of originals. Each of the fourteen tracks offers an irresistible groove; if you sit still during this, better check you're still alive.

"There are so many styles, and they're all different," explains leader Hanitra (it's pronounced ‘Ansch'), who sings and plays percussion. "It's because of the different origins of the people, and the way we all evolved in different corners of Madagascar. The styles I've taken on the album are the most recognizable, the best known. I'm just scratching the surface. I've even invented a dance of my own, the bakabaka, which we're going to launch in Madagascar."

"I've even invented a dance of my own, the bakabaka, which we're going to launch in Madagascar."

Making the album was a real labor of love for the band , which also comprises Noro on vocals and percussion, Ny Ony on guitars, vocals, and bass, Solo on bass, vocals, and percussion, and Donne on the marovany - a kind of zither - valiha, the Malagasy harp, melodeon, and vocals.

"I realized that these great dance tunes were no longer on the radio or on record," says Hanitra, "and they reminded me of my youth, and they were great. In the space of a month I learned thirty-five songs, the words and structure, and I thought about the arrangements. We played them all on stage last summer, and the ones that got the best response everywhere became our choice." But it was perhaps inevitable that D wouldn't consist entirely of covers. "I write music all the time. I was finding other rhythms within me, and I wanted to put them in there. I think I'm going to have to do dance workshops to show how all these dances go. On this record alone, there are twelve different dances, and it's not like salsa where you only have one step to learn."

Over the course of the last six years, the music of Tarika has grown in complexity and stature. Their last album, Son Egal, was decidedly political. Was this a deliberate change?

"I didn't think of it like that, but that's how it happened," answers Hanitra. "Son Egal got a lot of people thinking. D is for dancing, it's a lighter thing, although it still has two or three political songs - I can never escape that."

So put the album on, but roll back the carpet and move the furniture first. You won't be keeping still. And welcome to the watcha-watcha, the salegy...and the bakabaka, of course.

First printed in CMJ New Music Monthly