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Paul Bert Rahasimanana (Rossy)

Biography

Paul Bert Rahasimanana (born 20 September 1960), better known as Rossy, is a Malagasy singer and songwriter, generally considered the most popular Malagasy artist of the 1990s. Beginning his musical career as an accordionist and singer within a traditional hira gasy musical troupe. Paul Bert Rahasimanana was born in 1960 to a working-class family.[1] At the age of seven, he was given an accordion as a gift and began teaching himself to play.[2] In the early 1970s, Rahasimanana and a group of friends formed an a capella group called Hazo Midoroboka and began singing traditional consolatory songs (mamonjy jaobany) for those grieving at wakes held in their neighborhood of Ampamarinana in the Mahamasina district of Antananarivo. Mourners paid the members of the group in the form of free cups of coffee and fritters.[1] Like many other urban youth from working class and poor neighborhoods, Rossy also performed soava and vakisova, contemporary and typically a capella urban genres that expressed incisive social critique through slang-laden, rapped lyrics with complex hand-clapping accompaniment. While a high school student in 1981 he formed his first band, using African percussion rather than a Western drum kit to set the rhythm.[2] In 1983,[3] Rossy gave his first public performance of a song he had composed in the lively vakisôva genre. The performance occurred in the courtyard of the historic Ecole Sainte Famille located in Mahamasina and was attended by local television host Tsilavina Ralaindimby, who recognized the young man’s talent. Ralaindimby brought him to the attention of the director of the Centre Germano-Malgache, who was sufficiently impressed to collaborate with WDR (the predecessor of Radio France Internationale) to organize a four-month series of performances for Rossy in Germany. Rahasimanana’s youth was colored by the socio-political currents prevailing across the island under President Didier Ratsiraka’s socialist Second Republic. The young musician was molded by his impoverished background, instilling in him a concern for the struggles of the Malagasy lower classes and motivating him to rise above his family’s humble origins. Favorably impressed by policies of the president’s AREMA party that provided scholarships and other benefits to underprivileged youth members, Rahasimanana became an early and enduring supporter of the party and its president. The Studio Pro recording studio was established by Rossy in Antananarivo to improve the quality of locally produced musical recordings, as well as to provide local artists with greater access to low-cost recording facilities. The studio’s low-cost, high quality recording capability has enabled artists with limited capital, such as the hira gasy troupe Ramilison Fenoarivo, to record and distribute their work to commercial success. Rossy has also worked to promote Malagasy music by organizing numerous concerts, music festivals and dance events showcasing the diverse musical traditions of the island. In November 2012, Rossy opened Le Toit de la culture, a center for the promotion of traditional Malagasy cultural arts. Located in a building in the Mahamasina Stadium complex, the center hosts regular arts events and houses a school for Malagasy accordion performance. In 2014 he was elected as a member of parliament in the 2013 Malagasy parliamentary elections for the constituency of Antananarivo.[12] He was reelected in 2018.

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Rossy innovated a fusion of hira gasy instrumentation and vocal style with contemporary rock, funk and folk sounds to create a uniquely Malagasy genre of contemporary popular music. Rossy actively promoted former president Didier Ratsiraka through concert performances throughout his presidency and served within the Ministry of Culture to promote artists’ rights and copyright law. When Ratsiraka fell into disfavor following the contentious 2001 Malagasy presidential elections, Rossy went into self-imposed exile in France. He returned to the island to give concerts beginning in 2008 and enjoyed enormous popularity despite six years of absence, setting an unbroken record of 35,000 tickets sold for a performance given that year. His compositions and style are frequently associated with the Ratsiraka socialist period and commonly evoke a sense of nostalgia among Malagasy fans.

Talent

Paul Bert Rahasimanana (Rossy)

Biography

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