HAJAMADAGASCAR AND THE GROOVY PEOPLE @ Club Balattou

By Andrij Radio (aka DJ Dreeko) - West African Hour - 07/17/2008

DJ Spooky Luke (my West African Hour co-host) and I pulled into Club Balattou just as Hajamadagascar and the Groovy People started their set. Hajamadagascar is a young man, perhaps still in his twenties, and the other members of the group (a drummer and a bass player/keyboardist) looked equally young. Hailing from Madagascar (big surprise right?), the group plays several styles of music native to that country such as salegy, bahoejy and antosy. These styles use 3/4 or 6/8 time signatures and are very danceable. While Hajamadagascar played guitar for most of the night, he also pulled out some distinctive string instruments, one being a voliha, an instrument used in Madagascar. Although the music got a little too poppy with certain songs, and the keyboardist played some cheesy synth, overall, the music was tasteful and interesting. Often the group played quite fast, and Hajamadagascar would take a break from playing guitar and would play some hand drums, creating a contrasting rhythm to the drummer. His guitar playing was also incredibly fast at times, displaying an intricacy and grace unaffected by the rapid tempo of the music. Watching Hajamadagascar’s guitar playing, with its maneuvering through a variety of styles, was my personal highlight of the evening.

At first I felt that the crowd was a little cold, giving polite applause without much hooting and hollering. I was very tired, and even kind of burnt out from going to see shows every other day, but I tried my best to bring some shouting and excitement to the applause. The group played it cool, and I’m sure they knew that the audience would eventually be busting out. During the intermission, I talked to my friend Mitchell who was from Madagascar and had help me understand aspects of the music. When the second set started up, the crowd was ready to party. A huge group formed around the stage and started dancing. The band was obviously happy to see this, and Hajamadagascar took some time during the songs to do a bit of dancing of his own, moving into the crowd at points which really helps to break down the audience/artist barrier. At that point, I felt I didn’t need to make any extra effort during the applause since the crowd was now really into the music, so I just let myself be exhausted and I soaked up Hajamadagascars guitar playing.

This was a fun show, though I felt the band could have done more besides just playing good music to warm up the audience. Sometimes the music sounded a little popped out, but it was raw enough for me. They are a good band to dance to, and since there are only three members, it allows each instrument to really shine through in the overall mix. Personally, I would see them again just to witness Hajamadagascar’s virtuosic guitar playing.

Check out Andrij on the West African Hour every Wednesday from 12pm-1pm