When Germain Randrianrisoa--a.k.a. Rajery--was just eleven months old, he was taken to a wedding ceremony where an old woman handed him a piece of poisoned meat. "I took it in my right hand," he recalls today, "and it stuck in my throat. Afterwards, my fingers on that hand became shrunken. A couple months later, they fell off. My hand was gone." Rajery's childhood in a musical family would be difficult given his handicap. He was shunned by peers and saw no future for himself. From these challenging beginnings, he created a remarkable life.
When his parents sent him to the capital, Antananarivo, to go to school, he began to find himself, and at the age of 14, he decided to try and play the valiha. The valiha is a tubular harp made from a large bamboo stalk and bicycle brake cable strings. It typically calls for busy fingers on both hands, so Rajery was at a distinct disadvantage. But despite his self consciousness, he persisted. "I had a complex," Rajery recalls. "I didn't want to show that I was in the process of learning to play the valiha all alone. So I hid to practice. Then in 1982, there was a bandleader who saw me carrying the my valiha to go and spend my vacation in the countryside, and he asked me, 'Can you come? I want to talk to you for a moment. I need a valihist in my group.' I told him, 'But no, I'm not capable.' He said, 'No, no, no. Even if there is the sonority of the valiha, it's good. You can come.' So I delayed my trip to the countryside and went to their rehearsal."
In that group, Tsilavena, Rajery developed his approach to the instrument, picking melodies with his left hand and strumming with the stub of his right hand. He also played bass, and he gained enough confidence that he was able to persuade a concert presenter to let him perform a song as part of a musical program the following year. Rajery arrived, prepared to play one of the classic songs of the valiha repertoire, "Afindrafindrao."
"I got on the stage and began playing the song," he recalls, "and everyone began to laugh. Everyone was mocking me. I kept playing my valiha. I was trembling. I wanted to leave the hall, but a voice told me that I must finish the song. So I didn't look at the people. I looked at the strings on my valiha, and I finished the song. And afterwards, I reflected. What should I do? Should I abandon, or should I continue? I decided to continue. Why? It was a challenge. It was like my food. I decided that from this day, my handicap would become my strength."
From there, things took off for Rajery. He finished his schooling, wrote a book called "The Secret of the Valiha," began teaching, and started a group with his students. The group was called Akombaliha, "The Echo of the Valiha," and it had as many as ten valihas, guitar, kabosy (Malagasy mandolin), and percussion. The group eventually grew into a valiha orchestra, a modern version of a group that existed back in the 1930s. At the same time, Rajery formed a quartet dedicated to more experimental music, new songs inspired by tradition but including influences from other music, especially jazz.
"We want to grow," says Rajery, "to find an opening, to make the valiha known. This is a way to do this. Because I know that the valiha remains unknown in the outside world. It's our work to make this instrument known everywhere in the world, with recordings, with concerts, and above all with compositions. This is the modern music of Madagascar." Rajery recorded his first release for Label Bleu in France, playing all the instruments himself. He is recording a second album with his quartet in the summer of 2001.
Rajery is respected as one of the most innovative
valiha players working today. He is constantly invited to participate in projects by other musicians, be it traditional music, jazz, rock, or reggae. In addition, Rajery runs a
valiha factory--Top Valiha--and a school, which he hopes to expand dramatically in years to come. In 1995, he initiated a festival for handicapped artists and athletes in Madagascar, with some funding from abroad. In musical, cultural, and social arenas, Rajery is a powerful progressive force in Madagascar today.
--
Afropop Worldwide Senior Editor Banning Eyre
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