Mama Sana
Birth date1900
Birth placeMadagascar
GenreSalegy
InstrumentValiha, voice
OccupationSinger, songwriter, musician
Years active1915-1997

Mama Sana (1900–1997) was a Tandroy singer and performer of traditional airs on the valiha tube zither, the national instrument of Madagascar. She was a charismatic performer and dressed in traditional clothing with coins braided into her hair. Sana gained national and international acclaim over the course of her career, distinguished by her innovative reinvention of the valiha performance technique and her fusion of traditional Tandroy and Sakalava musical styles.[1]

Mama Sana recorded several solo albums before her death in 1997. Her music was sampled by French electro-pop new age band Deep Forest for their third album, Comparsa.[2] After her death, Sana's house was converted to a museum and a cultural association was founded in her honor to promote traditional music of the Sakalava and Tandroy people.[1]

Discography

TitleReleasedLabelTracks (Length)
The legendary Mama Sana1992Sanachie LC12 (43'55")
Madagascar: Anthologie des voix. Enregistrements et texte: Victor Randrianary1997MCM/INEDIT12 (43'55")
Madagascar Musique des Sakalava Menabe, Hommage à Mama Sana2000MCM/INEDIT12 (43'55")

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Randrianary, Victor (2002). "Mama Sana: Succès, angoisses… et musique: le blues sakalava" (in French). Cahiers d'ethnomusicologie. 15: 97–112. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  2. ^ Anderson (2000), p. 525

References

  • Anderson, Ian (2000). "Ocean Music from Southeast Africa". The Rough Guide to World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Rough Guides. pp. 523–532. ISBN 9781843535515.