Maurice Halison

A black-and-white photo of Maurice Halison wearing the snappy tuxedo that was the even of his music group suggests a lot, but doesn’t reveal the entire story. Among the great musical innovators through the isle of Madagascar, Halison come up with one of the most really exclusive and musically gratifying combinations of Western european and African musical principles in the annals of music. It seems sensible that this exciting isle, which features so a lot of its own ethnic peculiarities, should end up being the way to obtain a musical mix which has defied a great many other composers and performers over time. Certainly, listeners can strategy many different tries at piecing together African and Western european music without locating anything remotely as fun to hear as the task of Halison and his groupings. The Ocora collection Valiha Madagascar offers a ample sampling of four paths by these groupings, including different combos of Western european instruments such as for example piano and violin using the Malagasay valiha. This amazing instrument may possibly not be totally limited by Madagascar, but is nearly completely identified using the music from the island. There are various variations on style, but the simple idea can be a fats bamboo tube where strings are installed in various combos and tunings. Performers use several different models of strings simultaneously, laying the groundwork for wealthy harmonic combinations aswell as the overlapping of level patterns, among the many trademarks of Malagasy music. Among Halison’s great efforts like a composer was to increase the manner where the valiha will be doubled or tripled in a ensemble. “Ny Fiatavako Anao” is usually a bit for three valihas, two with 17 strings and one with 19, all tuned in a different way. The harmonic difficulty of the piece has even more in keeping with the task of composers such as for example Schoenberg or Boulez than most African music. non-etheless, the composer’s affects are clearly the original valiha of Malagasay tribes like the Merina, Sakalava, and Bara. However it had been Halison’s work including Western european instruments using the valiha that basically put him in the map, aswell as resulting in his groups getting regular accessories in resorts, dances, and several other public occasions needing live music. Regular ensembles might range between a quartet of electric guitar, piano, violin, and valiha to several chamber orchestra size including contrabass, flute, and drums. Halison also constructed and performed on a particular valiha with a complete of 37 strings. In the record Invisible Means, your guitar trio of Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, and Richard Thompson paid tribute to the artist using the Kaiser structure “Kalo Takariva: Requiem for Maurice Halison.”