Jean-Michelle, a set on Flickr.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Jean-Michel
11/18 – During our time at Foulpointe, we met this guy named Jean-Michel who ended up doing quite a bit for us. He was one of the guys who walk around the beach and tries to sell things to foreigners are visiting. He took us out on a little pirogue twice so that we could go snorkeling in the coral reef! We saw dozens of different types of tropical fish and held starfish and sea urchins. It was a really cool opportunity and ridiculous to think that I was snorkeling a couple times during finals week. WTF!
Jean-Michel also cooked dinner for us a few times, the first time he went and bought us 2 kilograms of fresh, giant prawns and grilled them on the beach, which we ate with rice and papaya salad. It was so good! Afterwards, we decided to order a special dinner for Thanksgiving because we were all devastated to be missing it at home. On Thanksgiving night, JM made us a kg of the shrimp, a kg of lobster and a small fish in addition to salad and rice. These meals fed 5 of us and cost about $30 total for the lobster dinner and even less for the shrimp one.
Jean-Michel also cooked dinner for us a few times, the first time he went and bought us 2 kilograms of fresh, giant prawns and grilled them on the beach, which we ate with rice and papaya salad. It was so good! Afterwards, we decided to order a special dinner for Thanksgiving because we were all devastated to be missing it at home. On Thanksgiving night, JM made us a kg of the shrimp, a kg of lobster and a small fish in addition to salad and rice. These meals fed 5 of us and cost about $30 total for the lobster dinner and even less for the shrimp one.
Finals Week
11/28 - WOW, I am back from finals week on the East Coast. It was an incredible week that was very productive and a lot of fun. We took a Taxi-Brousse, which is a city-to-city bus system here out to Tamatave. After 7 or so hours, upon arriving in Tamatave, we catch a taxi to our hotel and our taxi driver tells us that the hotel is too dangerous and brings us to a different one. Not a terrible place and Tamatave seemed like a cool city but we didn't really explore much because we were going to Foulpointe beach the next morning.
Last Monday we got another Taxi Brousse that was overly crowded but the ride was only a couple hours. We settled into our villa bungalow that was literally right on the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day. The remainder of my 'finals' week was spent with a similar routine. I would wake up relatively early, although an alarm was never set, and work on my ISP paper for a while. Everyone would get up; we would go get 40-cent soup at a hotely (picture coming) and some bread or possible a fried banana that costs 5 cents. Then get back to work for a little bit. Every morning, our study break would be tanning on the beach and swimming!!! Foulpointe is on the East Coast like Vatomandry (where we went early in the semester, with the big waves) but the difference is that there is a huge coral reef that surrounds the beach and keeps the water calm. Afternoon would be more work and usually a beer or two for me with a possible nap. We also had a plethora of fresh fruit ranging from litchis that are just coming into season to pineapple, coconuts, papaya and more. This process was repeated for the week with a few days that were special but that is coming in the next post.
On the last night, a bunch of South African miners who were working in Madagascar moved into our hotel and were celebrating the end of their term here. We ended up talking to some of them and drank for a while; they had some tips for my trip to South Africa coming up. Also met some Peace Corp volunteers, which was interesting. Next morning we caught a couple Taxis back to Tana, and in case you were wondering, 9 hours of travel on a crowded bus and a very windy road, after only a 3 hour drunken nap, while very hung-over, is not as much fun as you think.
Overall, it was a pretty amazing week and a great way to finish up a stellar month of November.
Last Monday we got another Taxi Brousse that was overly crowded but the ride was only a couple hours. We settled into our villa bungalow that was literally right on the beach and relaxed for the rest of the day. The remainder of my 'finals' week was spent with a similar routine. I would wake up relatively early, although an alarm was never set, and work on my ISP paper for a while. Everyone would get up; we would go get 40-cent soup at a hotely (picture coming) and some bread or possible a fried banana that costs 5 cents. Then get back to work for a little bit. Every morning, our study break would be tanning on the beach and swimming!!! Foulpointe is on the East Coast like Vatomandry (where we went early in the semester, with the big waves) but the difference is that there is a huge coral reef that surrounds the beach and keeps the water calm. Afternoon would be more work and usually a beer or two for me with a possible nap. We also had a plethora of fresh fruit ranging from litchis that are just coming into season to pineapple, coconuts, papaya and more. This process was repeated for the week with a few days that were special but that is coming in the next post.
On the last night, a bunch of South African miners who were working in Madagascar moved into our hotel and were celebrating the end of their term here. We ended up talking to some of them and drank for a while; they had some tips for my trip to South Africa coming up. Also met some Peace Corp volunteers, which was interesting. Next morning we caught a couple Taxis back to Tana, and in case you were wondering, 9 hours of travel on a crowded bus and a very windy road, after only a 3 hour drunken nap, while very hung-over, is not as much fun as you think.
Overall, it was a pretty amazing week and a great way to finish up a stellar month of November.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
End of Research
10/17 I also wrapped up my artists interviews today, y final one being with one of the most famous Malagasy artists, the King of Salegy, Jaojoby! I met him at a café near our center where he promptly introduced me to one of the head government officials in charge of copyrights and I began my interview. After a few minutes, he asked if we could just go back to his house because he hadn’t eaten lunch yet and was really hungry. Having played soccer all morning, I was quite hungry too and obviously had no complaints about the switch in location so we drove over to his neighborhood. He showed me the club that he had recently opened where they have live music most nights (and where I hope to return tomorrow night, Friday) and then walked down a ridiculous set of small, dangerous, incredibly smelly steps to his house. When we got there, his wife and her traditional Malagasy music group were in the midst of filming a music video! After watching for a few minutes we sat down and had a delicious meal of rice (duh!) and some crab.
Afterwards we got to talk for a while and he answered all of my questions and then some. He then let me pirate his cd too; I wanted to buy it from him but it isn’t coming out until sometime next year and he only had one copy. Afterwards, he even gave me a ride back to our program center. It is so amazing how accessible and how nice the Malagasy people in general, and the musicians in particular, have been during my stay here. What American artist would invite some random student to his house for lunch, give him music and then drive him wherever he was going?? I have been so lucky with all of this and it really has led these past few weeks of Independent Study Project to be 3 of the best weeks of anything called “School” that I have ever done. Am I really getting credit for hanging out with the biggest musicians in Madagascar???
Another thing worth noting was that there were a couple of vazahas hanging out at his house as well. There was a German guy who Jaojoby met in 1982 in Berlin where they decided to become blood brothers (like legitimately did that whole blood exchange) and now visits Madagascar when he can and stays near by (or with him, not sure). And there was also an American who lives in, you guessed it, the Bay Area. Richard was from Berkeley and has traveled all over the world but fell in love with Madagascar and is now on his 3rd visit, applying for his 2nd yearlong residency visa. He travels around the island taking photos and videos then giving them to the people and has made a lot of music contacts here on the island. He also works(ed) for Bay Area Music Magazine, so I of course took down his contact.
Jaojoby’s house was crazy busy between all the vazahas hanging out, music videos being shot and the normal activities in a Malagasy house and it was yet another incredible experience that I will not forget.
GGGOOOAAALLLLLL!!!
10/17 Today I went and played soccer with one of the second tier clubs in Madagascar. Their coach came and picked me up from the center and drove me to the field where they had scheduled a match. Earlier in the year, I had asked the program director how I could donate to one of the sports programs here, because sports played such a big role in my life. So I worked out a way to buy new uniforms for a team and they invited me to play with them. On the way there, we got to talk about Madagascar and World sports as well as the country. He tried to bad talk US basketball and say that Europe was getting better! But I quickly reminded him who won the most recent gold medal hahahaah. He also explained to me that there aren’t too many soccer fields anymore because foreigners rent the land (it is illegal for foreigners to purchase land although they can take out lifetime leases…) and then build big buildings on them for their foreign businesses. Really too bad to see athletics and youth athletics get compromised although the country is not getting money from a lot of sources, so that might help out with other things.
I didn’t play TOO terribly although it has been about 4 years since I played any type of organized sport and about 6 since I played any form of soccer. I was clearly the least in shape and foot coordination is hard to pick up in a matter of 45 minutes. Still, I played a shut out half of defense that is much less dramatic than the title of the post suggests (although that is usually the case with soccer). And I even made a couple plays too! It was really fun to get out there on the field and run around with those guys though.
I didn’t play TOO terribly although it has been about 4 years since I played any type of organized sport and about 6 since I played any form of soccer. I was clearly the least in shape and foot coordination is hard to pick up in a matter of 45 minutes. Still, I played a shut out half of defense that is much less dramatic than the title of the post suggests (although that is usually the case with soccer). And I even made a couple plays too! It was really fun to get out there on the field and run around with those guys though.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
DID I REALLY DO THAT?!!?
11/12 Somehow, my last Friday surpassed the day before. I am still in awe of how my day went. Again, it started off with a nice walk to my first interview site where I met again with the technician of the studio here in Tana. We had a good talk about the music industry that eventually led to a general discussion on Madagascar and other countries as well.
Then that afternoon, I had an interview with one of the most famous Malagasy artists every, Rossy. He has traveled all around the world playing shows and festivals all over Europe (France, Germany etc..), South Africa, the Untied States and more. He had stories of Harry Belafonte coming to his house and playing music, he showed me gifts that were giving to him by Jerry Garcia, he has even recorded with Peter Gabriel. Within Madagascar, he has worked with essentially anyone who is anyone.
We started out the interview at his house over a couple beers and he gave me a lot of information even though it was not always directly related to my questions. At 2:45, only 45 minutes into the interview, he asks the time and explains that he has a meeting at 3. He starts to give me options but I have a lot of questions still to ask, so I inquire whether I can just tag along. He says that fine, changes into clean clothes and he, I and another musician who is hanging out there get in his car and drive to a near by ministry. We are running kind of late, so once he parks the car he literally makes us run through the ministry looking for the meeting room.
When we get there, one of the government minister’s is there along with one of the most well known architects in Madagascar and his team. Rossy greets everyone and introduces me as “Ben, an American student who is doing research on Malagasy music” as if that somehow qualified me to be there. Everyone comes and shakes my hand and says “nice to meet you” in French and we take our seats, mine being next to the minister. I then sit there and listen in as the group of people prepare a presentation that will be given to the president of Madagascar! They are working on building a new outdoor theatre that will be used for political, religious and social uses and they are working out the details of the presentation as well as logistics of the stadium itself. I sit there listening to everyone debate and really, just trying not to laugh at the fact that I am even there. It was really cool to see part of the political process here and very interesting that a musician was being consulted so thoroughly for this government project.
Afterwards, we go back to his house for more beer and he begins taking out his accordions and playing them for me, showing off different one-of-a-kind makes that he has. Then he played me a few songs that he is currently working on and we got back to the interview. We talked for a while longer and it was getting late, so I decided to wrap up the interview. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ask all of my questions because his answers usually segued into interesting and helpful but off topic stories, so I asked if I could come back in case I thought of more questions for him. He said that it would be fine, he was going to be at his house all week but then on the 20th, he was going to the East coast city of Tamatava. Now, no joke, I had been planning to go to the East Coast city of Tamatava to write my paper when my research was done and I was planning to leave on the 20th as well. I told him that I was planning on that and said I intended to take a public bus there. He said, “No. No. Just come along with us.” NO SHIT, HE DID SAY THAT hahaha. To which I immediately and graciously accepted. His wife then took my number down and said she would call me this week to tell me the details about the trip. I thanked him for his time and everything then left with the other musician. As we walked out, I asked if he was going to Tamatava also and he explained that a bunch of musicians were because they were going to play a concert there the night of the 20th. My response was, “O really? Where can I buy a ticket???” But he said, “naw man, you’re with us! We’ll drive up and get some food then go to the concert.”
I am still pretty much in awe of the entire day. As of now, I will be in Tana for a week finishing up my interviews with musicians and music executives, then I am going to drive to the coast with a bunch of musicians and watch their concert, stay there for a week and write this paper and then return back to Tana afterwards. Last Friday was easily one of the coolest days of my life, can’t believe it!
Then that afternoon, I had an interview with one of the most famous Malagasy artists every, Rossy. He has traveled all around the world playing shows and festivals all over Europe (France, Germany etc..), South Africa, the Untied States and more. He had stories of Harry Belafonte coming to his house and playing music, he showed me gifts that were giving to him by Jerry Garcia, he has even recorded with Peter Gabriel. Within Madagascar, he has worked with essentially anyone who is anyone.
We started out the interview at his house over a couple beers and he gave me a lot of information even though it was not always directly related to my questions. At 2:45, only 45 minutes into the interview, he asks the time and explains that he has a meeting at 3. He starts to give me options but I have a lot of questions still to ask, so I inquire whether I can just tag along. He says that fine, changes into clean clothes and he, I and another musician who is hanging out there get in his car and drive to a near by ministry. We are running kind of late, so once he parks the car he literally makes us run through the ministry looking for the meeting room.
When we get there, one of the government minister’s is there along with one of the most well known architects in Madagascar and his team. Rossy greets everyone and introduces me as “Ben, an American student who is doing research on Malagasy music” as if that somehow qualified me to be there. Everyone comes and shakes my hand and says “nice to meet you” in French and we take our seats, mine being next to the minister. I then sit there and listen in as the group of people prepare a presentation that will be given to the president of Madagascar! They are working on building a new outdoor theatre that will be used for political, religious and social uses and they are working out the details of the presentation as well as logistics of the stadium itself. I sit there listening to everyone debate and really, just trying not to laugh at the fact that I am even there. It was really cool to see part of the political process here and very interesting that a musician was being consulted so thoroughly for this government project.
Afterwards, we go back to his house for more beer and he begins taking out his accordions and playing them for me, showing off different one-of-a-kind makes that he has. Then he played me a few songs that he is currently working on and we got back to the interview. We talked for a while longer and it was getting late, so I decided to wrap up the interview. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ask all of my questions because his answers usually segued into interesting and helpful but off topic stories, so I asked if I could come back in case I thought of more questions for him. He said that it would be fine, he was going to be at his house all week but then on the 20th, he was going to the East coast city of Tamatava. Now, no joke, I had been planning to go to the East Coast city of Tamatava to write my paper when my research was done and I was planning to leave on the 20th as well. I told him that I was planning on that and said I intended to take a public bus there. He said, “No. No. Just come along with us.” NO SHIT, HE DID SAY THAT hahaha. To which I immediately and graciously accepted. His wife then took my number down and said she would call me this week to tell me the details about the trip. I thanked him for his time and everything then left with the other musician. As we walked out, I asked if he was going to Tamatava also and he explained that a bunch of musicians were because they were going to play a concert there the night of the 20th. My response was, “O really? Where can I buy a ticket???” But he said, “naw man, you’re with us! We’ll drive up and get some food then go to the concert.”
I am still pretty much in awe of the entire day. As of now, I will be in Tana for a week finishing up my interviews with musicians and music executives, then I am going to drive to the coast with a bunch of musicians and watch their concert, stay there for a week and write this paper and then return back to Tana afterwards. Last Friday was easily one of the coolest days of my life, can’t believe it!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Did I Really Do That?!
My day began with a nice walk through Tana to where I had a scheduled interview. My interview was with an artist named Samoëla who is one of the most popular Malagasy acts right now and who's hit song "Hafaliana" is EVERYWHERE. It was a great interview and we talked for over an hour about music in general and the Malagasy music industry more specifically. It was really interesting, very helpful for my project and also fun for me.
I then grabbed a quick lunch at a hotely and went to my second scheduled interview of the day, with a technician for one of the major studios in the country. Unfortunately, he was busy. Fortunately, he was busy helping a group called Tinondia record one of their new songs! So I got to hang around the studio for a few hours, watch the recording process and discuss an impromptu interview with the head of the group. They had a lot of great things to say and it was awesome experience for me all around. Because I didn't have time to interview the technician, I will be returning first thing tomorrow to speak with him.
Still just in awe of how my day was spent.
I then grabbed a quick lunch at a hotely and went to my second scheduled interview of the day, with a technician for one of the major studios in the country. Unfortunately, he was busy. Fortunately, he was busy helping a group called Tinondia record one of their new songs! So I got to hang around the studio for a few hours, watch the recording process and discuss an impromptu interview with the head of the group. They had a lot of great things to say and it was awesome experience for me all around. Because I didn't have time to interview the technician, I will be returning first thing tomorrow to speak with him.
Still just in awe of how my day was spent.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Busy, Busy, Busy
In the next 3 days I have 4 interviews scheduled: with one of the more popular artists right now on the scale of Madagascar, one of the bigger artists in Madagascar history who has had an impact overseas, and the technician and owner (two separate people) of one of the biggest recording studios in the country. Next week I hope to interview more artists and executives then it is off to the beach for a final week of paper writing.
What I'm Up To
Haven’t written for a while, so I figured I would give y’all an update. A little ways into the research portion of my independent study project and things are going pretty well. Mostly been making comments and planning things out but I did get the chance to interview a Malagasy rapper! You can read my interview with Boussa of the group RaBoussa here:
http://da-what.com/2011/11/09/da-what-com-interview-with-malagasy-rapper-raboussa/
I also spoke with the owner of the biggest music shop in Madagascar and the only music distributor. It is crazy how accessible things are here. As a group we visited the biggest Magazine in Madagascar and spoke with its editor in chief, met with numerous government officials and much more; now I am meeting with popular musicians and “high-up” music executives. Funny story, the other day I was at a night club and I accidentally stepped on this guy’s shoe. As I look up to apologize, I realize that it is Fanaiky, one of Madagascar’s best and most popular Jazz musicians. I recognized him from both the album cover of his cd that I have as well as numerous television spots. I introduced myself and we spoke for a while, split a beer and kebobs and then he agreed to help with my project! Pretty cool. Check him out on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjUyu5a9Ix8
Last Saturday, a group of us were invited to the house of a worker in the US embassy. She worked for the State Department and had connections to the family of one of the student’s here. Here co-worker also came over and spoke with us for hours while we asked questions, discussed politics and ate an American lunch (including a black bean salad, which is only worth noting because there are no black beans in this country) and wine drinking. It was quite bizarre to hear their children speaking English because the only English I’ve heard in months is form the other students and our director, not including the unrecognizable occasional attempts that I hear on the street. Another thing that I enjoyed was that both of these workers were quite conservative with their views. Not that I personally agreed with everything that was being said but I would have to say that the kids on my program are rather liberal and it was just refreshing to hear new points of view. They were stationed in Madagascar for almost 2 years but they were also living in incredible houses with great resources (black beans!). It was a wonderful afternoon, Mahafinaritra even…
Still living with my home stay family in Tana and it is going well, these guys have really become a home for me within a foreign land. Been having fun these last few weeks and look forward to the rest of the semester.
http://da-what.com/2011/11/09/da-what-com-interview-with-malagasy-rapper-raboussa/
I also spoke with the owner of the biggest music shop in Madagascar and the only music distributor. It is crazy how accessible things are here. As a group we visited the biggest Magazine in Madagascar and spoke with its editor in chief, met with numerous government officials and much more; now I am meeting with popular musicians and “high-up” music executives. Funny story, the other day I was at a night club and I accidentally stepped on this guy’s shoe. As I look up to apologize, I realize that it is Fanaiky, one of Madagascar’s best and most popular Jazz musicians. I recognized him from both the album cover of his cd that I have as well as numerous television spots. I introduced myself and we spoke for a while, split a beer and kebobs and then he agreed to help with my project! Pretty cool. Check him out on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjUyu5a9Ix8
Last Saturday, a group of us were invited to the house of a worker in the US embassy. She worked for the State Department and had connections to the family of one of the student’s here. Here co-worker also came over and spoke with us for hours while we asked questions, discussed politics and ate an American lunch (including a black bean salad, which is only worth noting because there are no black beans in this country) and wine drinking. It was quite bizarre to hear their children speaking English because the only English I’ve heard in months is form the other students and our director, not including the unrecognizable occasional attempts that I hear on the street. Another thing that I enjoyed was that both of these workers were quite conservative with their views. Not that I personally agreed with everything that was being said but I would have to say that the kids on my program are rather liberal and it was just refreshing to hear new points of view. They were stationed in Madagascar for almost 2 years but they were also living in incredible houses with great resources (black beans!). It was a wonderful afternoon, Mahafinaritra even…
Still living with my home stay family in Tana and it is going well, these guys have really become a home for me within a foreign land. Been having fun these last few weeks and look forward to the rest of the semester.
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