Eusèbe Jaojoby (born 29 July 1955), commonly known by his surname Jaojoby , is a
Malagasy composer and singer of ''
salegy'', a musical style of northwestern
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. Critics consider him to be one of the originators of the modern salegy style that emerged in the 1970s, and credit him with transforming the genre from an obscure regional musical tradition into one of national and international popularity. Jaojoby also contributed to the creation of two salegy subgenres, ''malessa'' and ''baoenjy''. Jaojoby has been called the most popular singer in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, and is widely referred to as the "King of Salegy". His success has earned him such honors as Artist of the Year in Madagascar for two consecutive years (1998–1999) and the role of Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999.
In 1970 Jaojoby began singing in the northern coastal town of
Diego-Suarez. He performed with bands that were experimentally blending American soul and funk with the Malagasy musical traditions of the region. The artist gained popularity and toured regionally, producing four singles with The Players before the band broke up in 1979. After a short break in the 1980s to pursue a career in journalism, Jaojoby resumed his musical career and rose to national prominence with his 1988 hit "Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady". He then reoriented his career toward music, recording his first full-length album in 1992 and becoming a full-time professional musician the following year. He has since released eight full-length albums and has toured extensively in Madagascar and abroad accompanied by his wife and adult children, who perform in the band with him.
Early years
Eusèbe Jaojoby was born on 29 July 1955, to a
Sakalava family in the village of Anboahangibe, near
Sambava
Sambava is a city and commune (commune urbaine; ) at the east coast of northern Madagascar. It is the capital of Sambava District and Sava Region. The population of the commune was 84,039 in as of the 2018 commune census.
Infrastructure
Sambav ...
in the northeastern coastal
Sava Region
Sava is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. Its capital is Sambava. Until 2009 Sava belonged to Antsiranana Province. The region is situated at the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by the region Dian ...
of Madagascar. Jaojoby and his twelve younger brothers and sisters were raised Catholic; early experiences singing hymns in the local church choir
and
traditional folk songs[ at local Betsimisaraka][ moonlight village festivals made him realize he possessed vocal talent. At the age of 15, Jaojoby's father sent him to continue his studies in Diego-Suarez, one of the six regional capitals at the time. The town was home to a large contingent of French soldiers and expatriates, and contemporary Western genres were commonly heard on the radio and in the town's many nightclubs.] Jaojoby was inspired by these styles and particularly by Freddy Ranarison, who in the 1960s became the first Malagasy musician to use an electric guitar to perform coastal musical styles.
One month after moving to Diego-Suarez, Jaojoby entered a local talent competition and managed to win despite singing unaccompanied and without a microphone. He began to perform in nightclubs whenever the opportunity presented itself. The uncle with whom he was lodging sent word of Jaojoby's activities to the young singer's parents, who consulted a priest before giving their son permission to continue exploring his musical talents on the condition that he continue to perform well at school.[ Jaojoby agreed to this provision, studying during the day and performing at night for several years.][ In 1972 he began singing with Los Matadores, the well-established house band of the Saigonais nightclub in Diego-Suarez. This group catered to the club's primarily Western clientele by performing ]cover songs
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
compositions in French and English, occasionally incorporating traditional instruments like '' kabosy'' and drums,[ or experimenting with local musical styles using electric guitar, bass, and drum kit, accompanied by traditional ]Malagasy language
Malagasy ( ; ; Sorabe: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is one of the official languages of Madagascar, alongside French language, F ...
vocal performance.[
Experimental blending of Western and Malagasy musical elements was occurring simultaneously among a number of northwestern bands and musicians of Jaojoby's generation. Although no single individual can be credited with creating the modern salegy genre, Jaojoby ranks among the earliest originators of the nascent musical style. A desire for greater freedom to write songs and further develop the syncretic modern salegy style led Jaojoby to leave Los Matadores in 1975 for The Players, another regional band that was less well-established but more willing to take risks. The band was managed by a Chinese shopkeeper who provided them with a sound system and generator. The band toured northwestern Madagascar for the next four years with increasing success, recording two 45rpm singles and performing in ]Mahajanga
Mahajangā (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 258,068 ...
, Diego-Suarez, and other towns and villages throughout the region before disbanding in 1979.[
After briefly performing with a band named Kintana,][ Jaojoby moved to ]Antananarivo
Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...
where he studied sociology for two years at the University of Antananarivo
University of Antananarivo () is the primary public university of Madagascar, located in the capital Antananarivo.
History
The university traces its founding to 16 December 1955 and the formation of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Antan ...
before accepting an offer to work for the national radio station as a journalist at the end of 1980.[ The following year, Jaojoby met the manager of the local ]Hilton hotel
Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide.
The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...
by chance while the two were waiting together at a bus stop. Accepting the manager's invitation to audition at the hotel's Papillon bar that same night, Jaojoby performed a cover of James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
's " Sex Machine".[ The manager interrupted him mid-song to offer Jaojoby a contract to give regular evening performances there with the Rabeson family, a popular jazz act.][ For the next three years Jaojoby spent his days at the national radio and his evenings singing at the Papillon][ with the exception of a short interlude in 1982 when he was sent to ]East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
to complete an advanced course at the International Institute of Journalism. Jaojoby was promoted to Director of the Regional Information Service in Diego-Suarez in 1984, necessitating his relocation back to the northwest coast and bringing his cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
performances to an end.[
]
King of Salegy
After several years having focused entirely on his career with the Regional Information Service, Jaojoby was approached in 1987 by Frenchman Pierre Henri Donat to contribute several recordings to Madagascar's first salegy compilation album, ''Les Grands Maîtres du Salegy'' ("Grand Masters of Salegy"). The runaway success of one of the tracks he composed and performed, "Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady", elevated salegy from a regional genre to one of nationwide popularity, leading a newspaper to declare him the "King of Salegy". High demand for live performances led the singer to return to Antananarivo in 1988 to form a band named "Jaojoby" that included former bandmates from Los Matadores and The Players. Jaojoby begin touring regularly at home and abroad,[ performing his first international concerts in Paris in 1989.][ In the meantime, he worked as a press ]attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...
for the Ministry of Transport, Meteorology and Tourism from 1990 until 1993, at which point he left his job to become a full-time musician.[
The 1992 release of Jaojoby's first full-length album, titled ''Salegy!'', was facilitated by '']fRoots
''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occas ...
'' magazine editor Ian Anderson
Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...
, who had worked with Jaojoby to record several of his tracks for a radio broadcast two years previously.[ Jaojoby's second album, ''Velono'', was the first salegy album to be recorded in France,] as well as the first of his albums to be produced in a professional-quality recording studio.[ Following the 1994 release of ''Velono'', Jaojoby became a regular on the international music festival circuit][ and has performed at such events as ]WOMAD
WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
in Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
, the Festival du Bout du Monde in Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, WOMEX
WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany ...
in Spain, the Festival des Musiques Métisses in Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture.
Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
, the MASA Festival in Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
, and similar events in Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Jaojoby's excitement over his rise to international celebrity was attenuated by the 1995 death of the band's original drummer, Jean-Claude Djaonarana, who had first performed with Jaojoby as a member of Los Matadores.[
]
Jaojoby's success and popularity attained new heights in 1998 with the release of ''E! Tiako''. He was named "Artist of the Year" in Madagascar for two consecutive years (1998–1999),[ and the single "Malemilemy" received regular airplay across the island more than a year after the album was released.][ In July 1999, Jaojoby was named Goodwill Ambassador to the ]United Nations Population Fund
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a United Nations System, UN agency aimed at improving reproductive health, reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies and protocols, incr ...
and supported the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
' activities in Madagascar related to raising awareness of sexually transmitted disease
A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...
s, unintended pregnancy
Unintended pregnancies are pregnancies that are mistimed or unwanted at the time of conception, also known as unplanned pregnancies.
Sexual activity without the use of effective contraception through choice or coercion is the predominant caus ...
, and other concerns relevant to the Malagasy youth population. The lyrics of his songs commonly address social issues, typified by a track on ''E! Tiako'' that encourages the use of condom
A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...
s to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
.[
''Aza Arianao'' was recorded over five days in the summer of 2000 and released the following year.] In the wake of its success, Jaojoby performed at a political rally to an audience of 50,000 partisans of candidate Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana (; born 12 December 1949) is a Malagasy politician who served as the sixth List of presidents of Madagascar, president of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. Born into a farming Merina people, Merina family in Imerinkasinina, near th ...
less than a month before the divisive 2001 presidential elections[ that nearly resulted in the secession of the island's coastal provinces.] Jaojoby's 2004 follow-up album ''Malagasy'', which was recorded in semi-live conditions on the island of Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
[ in a small venue before an audience of the artist's friends,][ featured lyrics that sought to promote optimism and national reconciliation; the artist announced that he would not involve himself in national politics in the future.] The same year he toured extensively in France, the United States and Canada.[
The March 2008 release of ''Donnant-Donnant'' celebrated Jaojoby's roots as a ]cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
performer of soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
, funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
, and other Western popular genres.[ The track listing included previously unreleased pop songs written by the artist in the 1970s and 1980s in French, Malagasy, Creole, and English. Later that year, in September, he became the second Malagasy musical act (after supergroup Mahaleo, in 2007) to perform at the prestigious and historic Olympia music hall in Paris.][ Seating was specially removed at his request to provide space for dancing.] The live album ''Live au Bato Fou: Jaojoby'' was released in 2010 and features a diverse sampling of Jaojoby's greatest hits.[ A selection of new salegy tracks written and performed by Jaojoby was released in 2012 under the album title ''Mila Anao'',][ which was ranked by ]NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
as one of the ten best international albums of the year.
Style and legacy
The roots of Jaojoby's musical style began with his childhood exposure to the Western-Malagasy syncretism of local church hymns, and the rhythm, harmonies, and form of the traditional ''antsa'' style of northern Madagascar. The ''antsa'' is a choral style common across northern Madagascar characterized by large group performance of minor polyharmonies over a highly syncopated
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...
multi-rhythmic hand-clap or other percussive accompaniment.[Anderson (2000), pp. 523–532] Upon relocating to Diego-Suarez, Jaojoby was exposed to Western artists and musical genres,[ as well as the music of Freddy Ranarison, the first local artist to popularize the adaptation of traditional Malagasy styles to the electric guitar.][ Singing with Los Matadores provided Jaojoby with the opportunity to cover the hits of his idols, including ]Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
, Percy Sledge
Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 19 ...
, and James Brown. During his years performing with this band and his subsequent group, Les Players, Jaojoby adeptly covered hits from a vast range of regional and international genres ranging from the jerk
''The Jerk'' is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias (from a story by Martin and Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also f ...
, tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...
and, cha-cha-cha to the sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
and slow romantic ballads
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
. Together, these musical influences formed the basis of Jaojoby's style.[
In the 1960s bands such as Orchestra Liberty began performing the antsa rhythm on modern drum kits with accompanying guitar or ]accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
replacing the traditional vocals. It was not until the 1970s that bands like Los Matadores and Les Players adapted the traditional vocal style to the newly electrified antsa. Guitar solos were inspired by the performance style of traditional Malagasy instruments like the valiha
The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of Valiha diffusa, local bamboo; it is considered the "List of national instruments (music), national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of re ...
and marovany
The marovany (formerly spelled marouvane) is a suitcase shaped, wooden, type of box zither from Madagascar, used in Malagasy music. It is strung on both sides with metal strings. The player plucks the strings with both hands, often with rapid alte ...
, combined with that of guitar solo work popularized in the Congo and Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
.[ As a singer with Los Matadores, Jaojoby occasionally filled the instrumental breaks of rhythm and blues covers with improvised vocals inspired by the salegy tradition, to the jubilation of the young Malagasy listeners gathered outside the club's doors.][ Later, with The Players, Jaojoby and a handful of peers in northern urban areas experimented with incorporating vocals into the early instrumental salegy. Jaojoby described the adaptation of the traditional antsa style to modern instruments in the following terms: "The singing is that of the cattle herders moving their herds. The guitar imitates the great masters of the valiha. The keyboards provide the feeling of the traditional accordions, and the bass draws from the sound of the five traditional tuned drums. As far as the drum kit, well, it reproduces the ambiance of a Malagasy crowd on a day of celebration with all the hand clapping, shakers, and feet stomping the earth." The salegy rhythm was adapted to the modern drum kit by Jean Claude Djaonarana, drummer of Los Matadores, who later rejoined Jaojoby's band from 1988 until his death in 1995.][
French world music magazine ''Mondomix'' has called Jaojoby the most popular singer in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands.][ He is widely referred to as the "King of Salegy" by his fans and the press.] He composes all of his own music and writes the lyrics to his songs himself.[ According to ''Zomaré'' magazine, the quality of Jaojoby's "supple tenor" voice, the creativity of his compositions and the singer's willingness to experiment have helped to distinguish him from his peers.][ ]Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...
described his vocal performance as "clear, powerful and energetic ... his trademark, which makes him stand out in the Malagasy musical panorama".[ Critics have credited Jaojoby with popularizing the salegy genre both within Madagascar and on the international music scene,][ and have identified him as an originator of two derivative versions of salegy, ''malessa'' and ''baoenjy''.][
]
Family and personal life
Since the mid-1990s, Jaojoby's wife and children have formed part of the standard lineup of his band. His wife, Claudine Robert Zafinera, provides backing and occasional lead vocals. The couple's son, Elie Lucas, plays lead guitar while their daughters, Eusebia and Roseliane, provide backing vocals and stage dancing. His children also formed a band called Jaojoby Jr. that performs covers of their father's music as well as some of their own original salegy compositions.[ Saramba, a group created by Claudine in 2005,] performs the traditional form of salegy using only accordion, percussion, and vocals.
While traveling to Antananarivo after a performance at the 2006 Donia Festival in Nosy Be
Nosy Be (; formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be, ) is a volcanic island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist destination. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisio ...
, Jaojoby and his family were involved in a road accident. The singer suffered four broken ribs, lung damage and a fractured pelvis that necessitated emergency surgery in Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
, three weeks of hospitalization, and prolonged physical therapy to enable Jaojoby to regain the ability to walk.[ Fans of the singer used mail and the Internet to successfully raise the funds required to cover medical expenses related to the accident. After several weeks of bed rest following the surgery,][ Joajoby went on to make a full recovery.]
On 3 June 2011, Jaojoby opened a new cabaret venue called "Jao's Pub" in the Ambohipo neighborhood of Antananarivo, where the singer and his family reside.[
]
Discography
References
External links
*
Bibliography
*
*
See also
*
* Music of Madagascar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaojoby, Eusebe
1955 births
Living people
20th-century Malagasy male singers
Malagasy Roman Catholics
People from Sava Region
Betsimisaraka people
Label Bleu artists
21st-century Malagasy male singers