Madagascar

The highly diverse and distinctive music of Madagascar has been shaped by the musical traditions of Southeast Asia, Africa, Arabia, England, France and the United States as settlers from all over the world have made the island their home. Traditional instruments of Madagascar is as diverse as the people's origins: the //mandoliny// and //kabosy// were made with the introduction of the guitar by early Arab or European seafarers, the //djembe// originated from mainland Africa and the //valiha// the bamboo tube zither (a flute that could be either be a Philipines or a Hungarian instrument) considered the national instrument of Madagascar, directly transformed from an earlier form of zither, a string instrument carried with the first Austronesian settlers on their cannoes. Madagascar music is highly melodic and seperates itself from many traditions of Africa by the dominance of string instruments instead of percussion instruments. Music in Madagascar tends toward major keys and diatonic scales, but coastal music makes frequent use of minor keys, most likely due to early Arab influences. Vocal traditions in Madagascar use many keys at the same time; making strong similairites to South African singing. In the Highlands, and particularly in the 19th century, vocal performance by large groups called //antsa// was popular, while in the south and western coastal regions singing was performed with more elaborate ornaments and in small groups. Musical performance in Madagascar is very spiritual to the people of Madagascar. The association between music and ancestors is so strong on the eastern coast of Madagascar that some musicians will put rum, cigarettes or other valuble objects inside an instrument as an offerinmedia type="file" key="Music08 - Madagascar traditional music - O! Dear Friend (1930's).mp3" align="right" width="240" height="20"g to the spirits to receive their blessings.
 * Madagascar:[[image:http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_bpSkxj6N7ohlR-jaRPP0hOdXScqUB9dS7_UicQBUEQ4UkqvUTg&t=1 width="275" height="183" align="right"]] **

- by Viet (and insistingly Tae Jun)media type="file" key="Music08 - madagascar traditional music - Masoala Peninsula.mp3" align="left" media type="file" key="Music08 - Madagascar traditional music - Malagasy Soameva 1.mp3" align="left" media type="file" key="Music08 - Madagascar Traditional music - Malagasy Soameva 2.mp3" align="left"