Before forming the trio Groundnut Soul, 34-year-old Malagasy artist Claudio Rabe honed his skills with a powerful quintet blending rock, Malagasy trance, and Afro-psychedelic music. From Printemps de Bourges to Woodford Folk Festival in Australia, Sakifo Musik Festival on the island of La Réunion, and Access Showcase Festival in South Africa, the group has built a small reputation on stage where Claudio’s solid dance training shines.
Chant and Dance
This “World Rock” universe is characterized by playing on contrasts: musical tradition and future music, tension and festive liberation. An alchemy facilitated by tsapiky, a musical genre originating, like Claudio Rabe, from Madagascar. In parallel, the Malagasy artist engages in multiple collaborations. Groundnut Soul is one of them.
This latest formation consists of Claudio Rabe on rhythm boxes, Rosanne Joseph with her soulful voice, and Njiva Andrianantenaina with his marovany (Malagasy zither) transformed by effects pedals. “The challenge is to treat this marovany as a raw wave, blending ancestral sounds with modern sound design,” describes the group. In other words, to merge African rhythm and traditional instruments with radical electronic textures.
Some got a glimpse of the result during Groundnut Soul’s first concert, organized by Le Saut du Lou, at the Moulin du Rousseau in January. This Friday, Claudio and his team return for a new epic session at BAM.
