- Title: Like A God When He Plays
- Date: 30th August 1998
- Description:MUSIC JOURNEYS: Rave from the Grave The unique culture of celebrating death in Madagascar. When the island of Madagascar broke away from East Africa many millions of years ago to exist in relative isolation in the Indian Ocean,it prepared the way not only for separate evolution of its unique fauna and flora,but eventually for a distinct cultural development as well. Looking at the people of Madagascar today,they could possibly be Indonesian,or Asian,or African,or South American. And then you hear the music,which contains little clues,passing sounds,harmonies,riffs,playing styles and instruments that all seem to be related to other parts of the world. In Madagascar death is to be celebrated,not mourned. When a family has enough money they dig up the corpse,douse it in rum and have a party before wrapping it up in a new shroud and burying it again. This September Madagascar's most famous musician will have his "famadihana",or re- burial. He was the father of the valiha,a kind of zither. Hundreds of musicians,including valiha stars from Paris and elsewhere will make a pilgrimage to the ceremony. This will be one of the last chances to see valiha music in situ. The local lifestyle,the music and even the craft of making the instruments is dying out. Madagascar faces ecological disaster through mining and changing land use and with those changes will come the end of a unique culture. _____________________________________________________________ Information updated 27/6/97 Nicole Dempster
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Unspecified
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:30/08/1998
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 1990s