I had the incredibly fortuitous experience of spending just under a month traveling all throughout Madagascar, and was extremely lucky to be an artist-in-residence for a couple of weeks at Madagascar Arts ‘Les Toiles De L’isalo’ (and a great big thanks to Erick Monjour for making it possible, merci!) the residency itself was positioned at the entry to one of the countries biggest national parks ‘Isalo National Park’ just outside the township of ‘Ranohira’. Apart from the incredible array of biodiversity and truly unique animals and landscape, the Malagasy people were so very beautiful, genuine and generous. Whilst deeply impoverished, they have a sense of vitality and optimism that made me feel ashamed to be fortunate as someone from a foreign land. These a but a few of the remarkable and humbling sonic experiences I experienced whilst visiting such a striking and inspirational island.
here’s an excerpt from my work entitled valiha. the work exclusively uses the sounds produced from a humble valiha (a Madagascar zither) I acquired in Antananarivo
on my way down south I visited an allow recycling factory. The Malagasy people recycle
absolutely everything and this bare foot, molten alloy factory raised the hairs on the back on my neck!
not only did they manufacture an unbelievable amount of pots and pans
they also created some truly stunning trinkets!
here are some of the sounds emanating from the street outside the factory
(which was really a very simple, extremely hot tin shed!
a recording in a market in the township of Fianarantsoa
recording red-fronted brown Lemur in Isalo National Park
and here’s a very brief excerpt of an ecoacoustic composition entitled gidro I made from the recording;)
paper making, the good old fashion way;)
Children shucking peanuts in Ranohira village
surround sound recording in the reeds riparian canyons within Isalo
recording a Ringtail Lemur in Anja Reserve
surround sound recording in of Zebu and cart, Spiny Forest, Ifaty
(the Zebu and cart, or even a person towing a cart are still one of the major forms of
transportation today in Madagascar)
recording one of the many smaller waterfalls in an oasis in Isalo
coral reef recording, Ifaty lagoon just outside the Mozambique channel
some experimental recording with a DPA BLM 4060 boundary microphone
campsite within isalo park
attempting a snake recording, Ifaty
market place recording, Ambositra
one of the many gorgeous waterfall rockpools that were part of the river in Isalo
recording some beautiful busking in the main city of antananarivo
