Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact

Adams, Rashid Epstein

Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact

Thesis / Dissertation

2018

Abstract

Madagascar's enigmatic settlement is one of the unsolved puzzles of human history. For more than a century, scholars have been narrating the story of remarkable pre-colonial Indian Ocean migrations from Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia to the world's fourth-largest island. With a recent increase in research by scholars from various disciplines, the details surrounding Madagascar's settlement are slowly taking form. Within this context, I enquire what the study of music can contribute towards these investigations. By foregrounding musical instruments, the tangible aspects of musical culture, I present important evidence linking Madagascar to these Indian Ocean regions. My approach is two-fold. Firstly, I conduct a classification-based organological study by comparing several Malagasy instruments to examples found in Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia. I argue, on the basis of strikingly similar forms and names with the same roots, that these Malagasy instruments are localised versions of instruments diffused to the island. Secondly, I foreground Madagascar's national instrument, the valiha, by examining its visual development and incorporation of symbolic imagery. By viewing it as an object that is not limited to making beautiful sounds, I reveal how the valiha embodies enormous amounts of knowledge. This knowledge, often relating to heritage and identity, situates the musical instrument as a potentially vital constituent to advance the study of Malagasy origins.

Keywords

Music

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