Madagascar




We led two project in Madagascar, one completed, the other still going on. Both are rooted in the rural municipality of Isorana, in the Betsileo highlands, a territory where vineyards border ricefields, cultivated by peasants with a rich and dynamic culture.





Words Have Wings

cdparoles



This project is an artistic cooperation associating inhabitants from Isorana and those of the city of Saint-Denis, France. Five years filled with songs, music, poetry, workshops and shows led to the release of a collective work, the french-malagasy CD Les Paroles Ont Des Ailes ("Words Have Wings").

Set up in november 2006, the Local Center for Francophone Exchanges (CLEF) of Isorana, a remarkable rural library, has been our local partner in this intercultural project.

Throughout the years we have been working on the making of an album combining music, song and poetry, in malagasy and french. Along the way, we have been organizing various shows with the inhabitants involved, in Madagascar and in France.

Old and young, peasants, office workers, teachers, people from these two radically different worlds shared their poems and melodies, which we circulated back and forth between the two places. A malagasy folktale told in french, a french poem turned into a malagasy song, texts written by people from both locations, electric guitars intertwined with folk violin, kabosy meeting scratch : cultures blend, dialog, dance together...

These five years of convivial interactions led to a suprisingly beautiful result : the album Les Paroles Ont Des Ailes, a colorful, intercultural mix filled with hope and humanity, available to all as a free download on our website.




link2isorana
Visit the project website (in french)






The Treasure of our Ancestors





A second project came out from this endeavour : the making of group Tanga's first album.

This family troupe played a major role in our previous project Les Paroles Ont Des Ailes, and we now wish to highlight this talented band who finely combines artistic expression and peasant life.




link2tanga
Visit the project website