Charles Brooks, Madagascar

Vonarino
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

So far my attention to ethnomusicologists on these pages here have been far from diverse. The three discussed so far (Duvelle, Lecomte, and Kemp) are all French speaking white males born within two years from one another. The next painting that's in the works is of Jean-Jacques Nattiez who (though a little younger) fits also in that category. As it is in many fields in the arts (and in general) the last few decades have brought many changes and the field is much more diverse now. Charles Brooks, who recorded Vonarino (above), is, like Nattiez from Montréal and speaks French, but represents a whole new generation. He is a field-recording artist (as his bio states) and also a musician and unlike the others mentioned, not associated with an institute of higher education. One change in the field of ethnomusicology over the last few decades has been to provide much more contextual information with recordings than was the case earlier. All musicians on Brook's Fanafody album are portrayed and also photographed. A photo of Vonarino (Vonarino Avaradova Amboaniotelo Tulear) made it to the cover of the album and the song in my Top 100 Mozika Mandrehita is the opener on side A. Vonarino plays a home-made three string fiddle (lokanga). Recorded in Madagascar in 2006/7.