Razia, I believe there was a short Belgian prologue in the recording process of 'Zebu Nation'.
Razia Said: "That's right; I started recording this album with the members of Njava in Bergen, right here in Belgium. A lot of things changed later on in the recording process, though."
Content-wise a lot of the songs on 'Zebu Nation' deal with the environmental situation of Madagascar. Can I call it an ecologically inspired album?
Razia Said: "Absolutely, that's exactly what it is. I started writing these songs after I had visited Madagascar and noticed the scars deforestation was leaving/making in the Malagasy environment. As an outsider - I live in New York - I was shocked by what I saw and where initially I wanted to do an album that was simply meant as a return to my roots, I now felt I had to try and raise awareness about what was happening with the natural riches of Madagascar. I also felt it was really important for me to do this album in Malagasy, because I wanted to address my people directly and express to them the sentiments I was feeling."
You even went beyond the borders of music by allying yourself to Foko (www.foko-madagascar.org, red.), an organisation dealing with reforestation in Madagascar.
Razia Said: "Well, since then some things have changed, but as you say initially I started working with Foko, which basically is a group of young bloggers. I think it's important to reach a young public, because they represent the future of Madagascar. One of the people writing for Foko was studying at Princeton (Princeton University, New Jersey, red.) at the time, so that made it very easy for us to work together. Unfortunately, time issues didn't permit him to dedicate himself fully to this project, so when I went back to Madagascar last October, I met up with a few other organisations. The more the merrier, I suppose! (laughs) I'm now working with the well-known Wildlife Conservation Society, with CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere is a broad-spectrum secular relief, humanitarian, and development non-governmental organization fighting global poverty. It is non-political, non-sectarian and operates annually in more than 70 countries across the globe, red.), UNICEF and with Tany Meva, a Malagasy non-profit organisation doing reforestation projects. We've also decided to organise a music festival called Mifohaza Masoala (Wake Up Masoala, red.), for which we'll have the collaboration of the Malagasy Ministry of The Environment. We still need to take some hurdles, but things are looking very positive at this stage. For people who might want to discover Madagascar, the festival might provide the perfect excuse to do so!"
The so-called slash-and-burn system is a way of farming that's already been in use for centuries in Madagascar. How do you turn a tradition like that around?
Razia Said: "Well, we definitely have to start by re-educating the Malagasy people, but apart from that we also have to look for other forms of livelihood for these people, preferably something that is durable. Educating them about the long lasting and irreversible effects of deforestation is the most important thing, though. Great parts of Madagascar are already turning into dry desert-like and barren patches of land. Introducing things like eco-tourism might be a step in the right direction. Most tourists who visit Madagascar do so to see the lush vegetation of the rainforest and the great variety of unique animal species that live there. Right now, most villagers living around the rainforest are not really involved with that, so we need to create an interaction. The different dialects spoken on the island are a big obstacle, because even if you would put up big billboards everywhere a lot of people still wouldn't understand what they are saying as they are written in National Malagasy, which is a relatively new introduction to the country. I think the children could play an interesting role there, as they truly represent the future of Madagascar and at the same time can reach out to their parents and grandparents. It's definitely a huge challenge we're facing."
When you ask people about Madagascar, most will get stuck after mentioning vanilla and lemurs.
Razia Said: "Yeah, exactly! I live in New York and even there when I mention I'm from Madagascar I often get reactions like: "Oh my god, you're the first person from there I've ever met, I only know the movie ("Madagascar", 2005 computer-animated film by DreamWorks Animation, red.)!" That movie has nothing to do with reality, though! (laughs) It definitely is a country that isn't that well-known yet, but it's a fantastic place. Madagascar is almost like a mini-continent; you can find almost all the fruits on the planet growing there from apples to mangoes. The population of Madagascar is also very unique as they are a mix of Asian and African ancestry."
What place does music hold in Madagascar?
Razia Said: "Music is hugely important; in Madagascar you won't find a person that can't sing. If you sing a song, the children will start copying it moments afterwards, sometimes that's really amazing. We've not really been very successful in exporting our music, though; there's still a lot of work to be done there. It's still very hard to make a living as a professional musician in Madagascar and that's a pity because it's a place where you can still find the most amazing musicians stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere. A lot of rhythms we use in Madagascar are totally different from anything you can find in the rest of the world, again a fusion of influences from Polynesia and Africa, but even Europe."
A lot of the instruments used in traditional Malagasy music are also unique to the island.
Razia Said: "Yeah, you have the valiha, a bamboo string instrument, there's the maruvani, which is made of the trunk of a tree, then there's the lukanga, which is basically our version of the violin. All these instruments are still made by hand and often only get tuned by ear, so no two instruments will sound exactly alike."
The accordion is kind of the exception, because it's an imported instrument. When did that first appear in Madagascar?
Razia Said: "That was something the French brought with them when they came to Madagascar (Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was populated by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances of varying sizes. Beginning in the early 19th century, however, the majority of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of nobles of the Merina ethnic group. The monarchy collapsed when the island was conquered and absorbed into the French colonial empire in 1896, from which the island gained independence in 1960, red.), but of course the Malagasy people started playing it in a way that was unseen. The accordion player who's accompanying me on tour is French and when I first made her listen to Malagasy accordion playing she was amazed by what she heard. Another instrument that travelled that route and is still being used regularly in Madagascar is the harmonica. Both these instruments were often used by sailors, who introduced them to the native people."
You've lived all over the globe, eventually settling in New York. Did you ever consider moving back to Madagascar?
Razia Said: "Well actually, that's something I've started contemplating only just recently. I've only just returned from a visit there and during my stay I visited a place called Nosy Be, which is one of the tourist resorts in Madagascar - although I have to add that tourism isn't really booming at the moment, because of the political turmoil in the country (Since 1992 Madagascar has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo by an elected president who serves a renewable five-year term. However, following a popular uprising in 2009 instigated by then-mayor of Antananarivo and TGV - Tanora malaGasy Vonona or Young Malagasies Determined - political party president Andry Rajoelina, Ravalomanana was pressured to resign. Presidential power was then unconstitutionally transferred to Rajoelina with the support of a portion of the military. A 2010 constitutional referendum ushered in the Fourth Republic in which the nation continues to be managed by Rajoelina's unelected caretaker government known as the High Transitional Authority or HAT. Rajoelina, currently the youngest head of state in Africa, has failed to secure recognition from the international community, which largely views the current administration as illegitimate and has widely characterized Rajoelina's seizure of power as a coup d'état, red.) - in the northwest of the country with the most amazing sunsets. I really fell in love with that place and even asked my husband if he saw us living there. Surprisingly, he said yes, so I think we might start spending at least a couple of months a year there. That would also be very handy with all things I'm doing there now."
Why exactly did you choose to name the album 'Zebu Nation' referring to the type of cattle common in Madagascar?
Razia Said: "Exactly, it's that humped type of cattle, which for Malagasy people represents a sign of wealth as well as being a means of communication between the living and the dead. Also, if you make a wish and it actually comes true, you're supposed to sacrifice a zebu. Lastly, the zebu is of course the animal that provides the meat Malagasy people consume on a daily basis. I wanted to use something that would be recognisable for the entire nation, without differentiating between the different ethnicities; a unifying symbol so to speak. One of the reasons Madagascar has not progressed more, is because of all the friction between the different tribal societies. Of course it's also an album title that sounds good in every language! (laughs)"
You're now focusing on your musical career, you did some things in fashion in the past as well as doing a little acting, I believe, but you also hold a degree in pharmacology.
Razia Said: "That degree paid for both my albums! (laughs) I guess you could say it came in useful, yes. It's something I've become less and less involved in over the years, but I certainly don't regret doing it. It taught me a lot and I think it's important to have at least some kind of academic background. Everybody should go to school and study something!"