Biography
D'Gary (Ernest Randrianasolo), was born in 1961 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He grew up in the remote Bara village of Betroka, and it was here that he learned to play the ukulele-like kabosy, the mouth bow and any other instrument he could get his hands on. Using a borrowed guitar, D'Gary came up with 11 guitar tunings and a variety of fingerpicking techniques to convey the music of traditional instruments like the valiha and marovany harps and the kabosy.
In 1991, the American guitarists Henry Kaiser and David Lindley visited Madagascar to investigate its local music scene and they met D'Gary and the singer Dama Mahaleo. In that same year, Kaiser and Lindley produced D'Gary's album 'Malagasy Guitar/Music from Madagascar'. In a review of the album 'Puncture' wrote "(This) is an album for guitar head who will be astonished by D'Gary's formidable technique and the heady whorl of music he can coax from his instrument".
In 1992, D'Gary came to the attention of Malagasy folk icon Dama Mahaleo. Dama Mahaleo is noted for his fleet, melodious style, derived at least in part from the tradition of native harp and lute playing; his voice has a earnest, reedy quality. D'Gary's instrumental skill and sweet songs about nature and daily life proved a winning complement to Dama's artistry and, in the next year, in April 1993, they recorded their performance at the Festival Internationale as 'The Long Way Home'.
D'Gary has gone on to record and perform with his own group, Jihé.
Discography:
* D'Gary - Malagasy Guitar (Shanachie, 1991/1992)
* Dama & D`Gary - The Long Way Home (Shanachie, 1994)
* D'Gary & Jihé - Horombe (Stern's Africa, 1995; Indigo, Label Bleu, 1995)
* D'Gary - Mbo Loza (Indigo, Label Bleu, 1997)
* D'Gary - Akata Meso (Indigo, Label Bleu, 2002)
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