Ma Nature

Singer and environmental campaigner Olga del Madagascar hails from, as you would expect, Madagascar. The East African island is festooned with flora, fauna and acres of pristine rainforest, although much of it is under threat: Madagascar has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. She is one of the Betsimisaraka people of the island's north-east and, having grown up surrounded by beauty and biodiversity, has determined to do all she can to protect it. Music is the platform she uses to celebrate her birthplace, champion her ancestors and decry corporate greed. As with Bois de Rose, her popular debut, this follow-up album features tracks sung in her Malagasy mother tongue, as well as in French and Italian.

There's a jaunty, sunny, highly melodic feel to most of the tracks, from opener ‘Za Efa Tsy Hangnano (Je Ne Le Fais Plus)’, with its fast-paced mix of polyharmonies, synthesized beats and the ringing noises of what sounds like the box-shaped wooden kabosy (mandolin) and steel-string valiha (zither) on the title-track. Encompassing traditional styles such as salegy, antosy and tsapika, Olga de Madagascar has star potential; all she needs to spread her message further is to sort her marketing out.