Mahabibo
"Mahabibo" is the second recording by the Ottawa based band Raivo dedicated to playing the music of Raymond Razafimbahiny (1919-1963), better known as R.R. Majunga, the Malagasy composer and poet...
The lead singer of Raivo, Maggy Razafimbahiny is the second of three daughters of R.R. Majunga. The yougnest daughter Lydia Razafimbahiny is also a member of Raivo and can be heard on a number of the songs. In this second recording we have placed a greater emphasis on R.R. Majunga's French compositions. In the maze of emotions that the French colonial peiod and the execution of his father produced, R.R. Majunga nevertheless found in the French language a tool that enriched his artistic endeavours.
As with Hommage the first Raivo recording, we have added takes of the original recordings made by R.R. Majunga. As well we recorded a number of our own original compoisitions to affirm our own musical identity and further pioneer the formula established by R.R. Majunga of mixing traditional Malagasy piano music with jazz and other forms...
Mahabibo closes Raivo's musical saga and personal and family project of rendering homage to R.R. Majunga, the father who disappeared too early. We hope that through these two recordings we have succeeded in helping the listener to better understand the musician and appreciate his body of music. Raivo is grateful to R.R. Majunga for providing a great musical template for our future endeavours. We thank you R.R. Majunga for this magnificent opportunity to discover ourselves and evolve and to move forward artistically with these two recordings under our belt." --Dean Pallen and Maggy Razafimbahiny