Aia Haja?

Description

This Franco-Malagasy quintet explores the new sounds and frantic rhythms of
tsapiky, a young trance music born in the bal-poussière ceremonies of southwest
Madagascar.
Extending the collaboration between Electric Vocuhila and the musicians of guitarist
Behaja’s group, this ensemble creates an unprecedented combination with the
saxophone, merging tsapiky with (free) jazz and rock.
Originally from Sakaraha, in southwest Madagascar, Behaja is one of the most
influential musicians in contemporary tsapiky. Deeply rooted in the andriampototsy
(bal-poussière) tsapiky tradition, he is renowned for his mastery of the new guitar
techniques, rhythmic approaches and structural developments that have emerged in
the past 10 to 15 years in the Tulear region.
Deeply passionate about Malagasy tsapiky for the past decade, saxophonist Maxime
Bobo (Electric Vocuhila, Mitsaitsaiky) travels regularly to Madagascar to perform
with various modern tsapiky groups (Behaja, Rebona, Mahapoteke) and to conduct
research and field recordings in order to understand and document the current
evolution of this music (see the compilation Tsapiky! Modern Music from Southwest
Madagascar, released in April 2025 on Sublime Frequencies).
Tsapiky is a young musical style that emerged in the late 1970s in the Tulear region
of southwest Madagascar, born from the encounter between village traditions and
modern African music, with the electric guitar rising as its leading instrument.
It is performed primarily in bal-poussière ceremonies — funerals, weddings, and
other celebrations — during which musicians play from morning until dawn,
sometimes for several days.