MADAGASCAR 2
​I visited Madagascar in the fall of 2018.

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Olombelo Ricky's concert took place at the Theatre de Verdure.
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Contemporary Malagasy artists are relatively easy to see, especially in Antananarivo, where there are numerous venues.*

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The silks were woven in many colours and pattern combinations and, in the past, had strong links with royal prestige, expressed by the colour red.*​
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Madagascar is home to an endemic species of silkworm, which feeds on tapia trees in the wild and whose cocoons are threaded and woven like 'conventional' silk.*​

This amphitheatre has occasional shows featuring artists from the Madagascan charts, as well as regular gospel-music or church-choir concerts that set the crowd on fire.*​
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Textiles have always played a huge part in Malagasy society, with some types of cloth even being imbued, it is believed, with supernatural powers.*

This family workshop specialises in the creation of miniature objects (cars, rickshaws, bicycles, etc) made from recycled materials - anything from aluminium cans to (unused) intravenous tubes, textile and old cables.*​

Tana's rova (fortified palace), known as Manjakamiadana, is the imposing structure that crowns the city's highest hill.*
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A number of musicians have artfully mixed pop and traditional influences, including the wonderful singer-songwriter NOgabe Randriaharimalala, Njava, Tarika, Sanieka or the more jazz-infulenced Nicolas Vatomanga.*​

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The Merina sed cocoons collected from wild silkworms to make highly valued textiles called lamgba mena (red silk).*
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The traditional sweets here hasn't changed in decades: a syrup is prepared, then rapidly cooled down and kneaded on a granite slab.  Ingredients such as vanilla, orange peel, ground coffee or crystallised ginger are added to the mix for flavour; the preparation is then cut into individual sweets.*

This workshop showcases the production of a unique kind of paper, made from the bark of a local bush, which has flowers pressed into it.*

June to September is the time for famadihana (literally, the 'turning of the bones'), the ritual exhumation and celebration of ancestors' bones by the Betsileo and Merina people.*

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Around 30 highly skilled artisans work here producing scale models of historic ships, fishing boats and famous vessels.*

Famadihana are joyous and intense occasions, which occur in each family roughly ever seven years.*



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Ambalavao hosts the largest zebu market in the country.*

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*These captions are from Madagascar -- Lonely Planet's travel guide.