Various

2011 release. "The second volume of recordings in a series of Madagascar music. From the archives of Montreal recordist, Charlie Brooks. While containing some similar artists as volume one, Fanafody focuses more on his second trip through the island during 2002 featuring violin players and throat singers. Includes extensive photography and Liner notes." We don't recall stocking the first volume of 'Fanafody…' but it would seem we missed out from listening to the immersive 2nd volume. Mississippi take us to the exotic, sub-equatorial island of Madagascar, on what will be for many (us included), their first exposure to the fascinating syncretic folk music of the island. Due to it's geographic location in the Indian sea, over the last 2000 years Madagascar has been subject to innumerable influences from colonialists to pirates and original settlers from as far as Borneo, creating a people and culture as diverse and unique as it's ecosystem (it's a biodiversity hotspot in which over 80% of its plant and animal species are found nowhere else on earth - ta, wikipedia). Their musical legacy runs deep and forms an integral part of their hugely mixed social construction, hence a dissolute mixture of elements from Asian, African and European musics made for entertainment purposes, but also with a tactile, tangible spiritual resonance. This music sounds ancient, and totally captures the imagination.