Afropop Worldwide

Tsapiky is fierce, joyful, high-energy, electric-guitar driven dance music from southwest Madagascar. Producers Morgan Greenstreet and Boris Paillard went to Tuléar to record and interview today’s main female players in the tsapiky scene. The music is typically performed in “bal poussières” (dust balls, mandriampototse in malagasy) ) that can last from three days to a week—non stop! In this episode we hear both the raw rural blast of tsapiky as well as its cleaner studio version, both of which rock like nothing else on the planet. We meet Maxime Bobo, on a mission to document 21st century tsapiky, and we speak with women who play a key role in the story of this vibrant local tradition. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet and Boris Paillard.