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.