Good Grief!

Good thing I turned down that invitation to blog at the Democratic National Convention. Otherwise, I would have missed the perfect concert–right here in Philly! Salegy. How did I get this far in life without knowing about salegy? From the Afropop Worldwide website:

Salegy is the best-known and most widely exported dance pop music of Madagascar. It began in northern coastal towns like Majunga, Nosy Be and Diego Suarez (Antsiranana). Salegy is driving, 12/8 music with clear affinities to mainland Afropop styles in places like Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is characterized by gently rippling guitar work, organ or keyboards and sometimes accordion, and powerful vocal harmonies.

Which is interesting but says little about how energetic, infectious, and just plain kick ass last night’s Jaojoby show was. Jaojoby, a salegy pioneer, is on tour in the US for the first time, and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center was the first stop. Americans and Canadians: you still have time to find out if Jaojoby is coming to a town near you this summer.

My friend Special K bought a CD, so maybe the next Good Grief! mix will have a world music flavor. Until then, you can listen to a sample here (Real Player, bleh). By the way, if the music alone isn’t enough incentive to check out a Jaojoby live show, you should know that the dancers are fun, incredibly talented, and total babes.