Madagascar Awakening the Spirits - Music in Tromba and BiloTrance Rituals CD

Part of the Music of the Earth CD series.

According to the Malagasy conception of the universe, many anomalies of daily life (sickness, poverty, etc) are due to a disharmony between man and the supernatural world. Relying heavily on music to create and sustain a state favorable for trance, rituals (such as the ones featured on this recording) are an important means of contacting and appeasing this other world. Recorded in the southwest region of Madagascar, 17 tracks highlight the intrinsically emotional music which accompanies these ceremonies, performed on the traditional instruments of maravony (box zither), gorodo (accordion) and mandoliny (lute). Recorded by August Schmidhofer of the Institute of Musicology, Unversity of Vienna.