Premier Livre de Kabaosa Malagasy

Bilingual (French and English) beginners' guide to playing the kabaosa, a traditional guitar-like instrument from Madagascar.

Ceci aura comme double avantage de conserver la culture spécifique du terroir par des moyens adéquats et en même temps de l'engager à être offerte aux âmes créatrices de nos jeunes artistes qui auront le devoir d'en assurer le dynamisme et la pérennité.

D'autre part, ce petit manuel d'initiation est aussi une incitation au dialogue des cultures dans la mesure où il devient accessible aux étrangers. Ceux-ci ne manqueraient pas, en même temps qu'ils s'y adonnent, d'y apporter leur savoir-faire musical.

Le Ministère de la Culture et de Communication s'attend donc au plein succès de cette heureuse initiative de Zakaria et ne peut s'empêcher de souhaiter que ce premier livre engendre de nouvelles œuvres signées de Zakaria ou d'autres personnes.

This late twentieth century is characterized by the prevalence of the written form. The present book, the first ever written on the Malagasy Kabaosa, was designed in such a context, and stands as a symbol of the role that scholars should play in and for the Malagasy culture, i.e. give the oral traditions a formal shape so as to make them "consumable" by modern society.

On the one hand this will contribute to preserve the specific local culture with adequate means, and on the other hand to offer it as material for our young artists to create upon, thus ensuring that it is kept alive for later generations to enjoy.

This initiation booklet is also an encouragement to the dialogue of cultures inasmuch as it makes itself available to foreigners. The latter, while learning about our culture, will necessarily apply their own musical competence.

The Ministry of Culture is confident that this first step by Zakaria will meet with success and hopes that more such books will come subsequently, either from Zakaria or others.

Ce dernier n'a pas hésité à m'en fabriquer un. Tout de suite après, je me suis mis à l'étudier en autodidacte. Très facilement, je me suis habitué à jouer de cet instrument de musique de la campagne.

Il joue du Rija, du Jijy Sakalava, du Vakisaova, du Tsapika, bref de la musique traditionnelle.

Actuellement, le KABAOSA commence à se faire un nom dans les grandes villes de Madagascar et un certain nombre de musiciens s'évertue à jouer leurs compositions avec cet instrument. Il est ainsi compréhensible que la réputation de l'instrument va même au-delà de nos frontières.

Je vous invite à découvrir la richesse de la musique malagasy avec notre fidèle compagnon: le KABAOSA.

I first played the KABAOSA in 1974. It was while listening to a night watchman playing on it, one night at the Zoma, in Analakely, that I was so deeply impressed with the sound it made that I decided to learn how to play it.

That man readily agreed to make one for me. As soon as I got my own instrument, I began studying the subject by myself. Very soon I got familiar with that rustic musical instrument.

You can play Rija on it, and the Sakalava Jijy, Vakisaova, Tsapika, in fact almost any kind of traditional music.

The KABAOSA is now beginning to make a reputation for itself in the larger towns of Madagascar, and a number of musicians have been trying to play their compositions on that instrument. No wonder then, its reputation is spreading beyond our borders.

Through the KABAOSA, I would like to help you discover one rich part of the Malagasy music.

• Préambule / Preamble
• Le Mot de l'auteur / The Author's Foreword
• Le Kabaosa / The Kabaosa
• Comment jouer le Kabaosa / How to Play the Kabaosa
• Comment Aborder le Kabaosa? / How to Use the Kabaosa
• Différentes Sortes de Barrages et Doigtes / The Different Kinds of Stoppings and Fingerings

• Printed by CNAPMAD.

Refer to the glossary for definitions of terms used to describe the condition of items.

• Music > Instruments > Malagasy Traditional > Kabaosa