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A review from Independent by Michael Church
17 March 2004
THE FOYER of the National Theatre may not be the most obvious place to go to hear world music, but I was one of the many passers-by who felt compelled to stop and listen when Modeste and his musicians took the stand. He delivered his opening song in a whisper, but it was enough to halt conversation among the sandwich-munchers; even the nobs in the restaurant above looked down and cocked an ear.
His second number was pitched high, but still very soft: its meoldies had that gracefully turning quality we associate with Mali, and his finger-picking was almost in the Djelimady Tounkara class. He may hail from Madagascar, but as the set wore on, there were times when we might have been back on the West Coast in the Seventies: his support guitarist and stately female percussionist enriched the mixture with precision.
For the most part, though, we were down in the Indian Ocean, soaking up the melodies he had composed and the words he had written for them. Too much to hope for a leaflet with translations, but they were to be found in the CD Modeste, on sale afterward. "What can we do when our sunshine's been taken away?" asks one, going on to incite rebellion against the thugs who terrorise Malagasy folk. He sang it with gentle fervour over the softest of hand-drum accompaniments, but the point came across strongly.
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