Queen Ranavalona Makes the Front Page (of Wikipedia)

Queen Ranavalona Makes the Front Page (of Wikipedia)

Wikipedia features a random article everyday on its home page and today's front page carried a story on the "Last Queen of Madagascar."

LINKS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Who are some popular Malagasy Musicians?

Who are some popular Malagasy Musicians?

Along with the literature and poetry of a nation, it's important to be familiar with their music.  I came across this link from National Geographic that seemed like a good place to start.

D'Gary is one of the best guitarists in the world.


Eusebe Jaojoby is a well known Malagasy musician and one of the originators of the salegy style.

LINKS:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/madagascar_22
http://youtu.be/qcKzjnew98Q
http://youtu.be/TM6KMV91PKA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eus%C3%A8be_Jaojoby

Mango Season in Madagascar (A Vignette)

Mango Season in Madagascar (A Vignette)

Below is the first paragraph of a short vignette titled: "Mango Season: A Metaphor for All Things 

Wonderful in Life" by Madagascar Peace Corps volunteer Katie Brown.  The title links to here blog

but you can also find it on the Peace Corps website (link below).

You should also check  out the other Peace Corps resources available.

On November 1st, it was though someone had flipped a switch and the rains began to fall. Six 
long months and many a fruitless rain-dance had produced hardly a drop. Now, the opening of 
the sky is a daily event, one that requires due consideration for the afternoon schedule. For these 
are torrential downpours and venturing out in them is much akin in my opinion to snorkeling: 
extreme difficulty breathing, high likelihood of drowning, thus high risk to low reward.
Fortunately for the captives of the resulting mild afternoon hours, when only the dull roar of rain 
lashing the roof fills the ears, a three-fold blessing comes hand-in-hand with the change of 
seasons: mangos, mangos, and more mangos. For months I had watched them grow heavy on the 
trees, kicked them under-ripe down the back roads of my town, ate them as an accompaniment to 
street-corner brouchettes. For months indeed I tendered my patience and then, suddenly, as the 
rains arrived, the mangos ripened and Nothern Madagascar was swimming in both. Four for ten 
cents at the market, or better yet, send out a brigade of neighborhood children. Fresh mangos on 
a rainy afternoon: one starts to think this island life ain't so bad...

LINKS:

http://collection.peacecorps.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/p9009coll2/id/224/rec/1

Peace Corps Malagasy Language Intro Document

Peace Corps Malagasy Language Intro Document

We came across the document below and it seemed like a good place to start to familiarize ourselves with Mada's native language of Malagasy (the 'sy' is pronounced 'sh')--French is the official language in the country but isn't widely spoken in the remote villages.

We have always had an appreciation for the Peace Corps because one of our grandmothers (Granny Nanny Darling) worked for the PC in Equador.  The PC website has a variety of interesting resources, including vignettes from past volunteers: 

http://collection.peacecorps.gov/cdm/search/collection/p15105coll6!p9009coll2/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/rmcoll/p9009coll13/order/title/ad/asc

LINK:
http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/madagascar/MG_Malagasy_Language_Lessons.pdf