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Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact
Madagascar's enigmatic settlement is one of the unsolved puzzles of human history. For more than a century, scholars have been narrating the story of remarkable pre-colonial Indian Ocean migrations from Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia to the world's fourth-largest island. With a recent inc...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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College of Music
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614499628908544 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Adams, Rashid Epstein |
| author2 | Nixon, Michael |
| author_browse | Adams, Rashid Epstein Nixon, Michael |
| author_facet | Nixon, Michael Adams, Rashid Epstein |
| author_sort | Adams, Rashid Epstein |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Madagascar's enigmatic settlement is one of the unsolved puzzles of human history. For more than a century, scholars have been narrating the story of remarkable pre-colonial Indian Ocean migrations from Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia to the world's fourth-largest island. With a recent increase in research by scholars from various disciplines, the details surrounding Madagascar's settlement are slowly taking form. Within this context, I enquire what the study of music can contribute towards these investigations. By foregrounding musical instruments, the tangible aspects of musical culture, I present important evidence linking Madagascar to these Indian Ocean regions. My approach is two-fold. Firstly, I conduct a classification-based organological study by comparing several Malagasy instruments to examples found in Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia. I argue, on the basis of strikingly similar forms and names with the same roots, that these Malagasy instruments are localised versions of instruments diffused to the island. Secondly, I foreground Madagascar's national instrument, the valiha, by examining its visual development and incorporation of symbolic imagery. By viewing it as an object that is not limited to making beautiful sounds, I reveal how the valiha embodies enormous amounts of knowledge. This knowledge, often relating to heritage and identity, situates the musical instrument as a potentially vital constituent to advance the study of Malagasy origins. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41391 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:53:01.244Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | College of Music |
| publisherStr | College of Music |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41391 Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact Adams, Rashid Epstein Nixon, Michael Music Madagascar's enigmatic settlement is one of the unsolved puzzles of human history. For more than a century, scholars have been narrating the story of remarkable pre-colonial Indian Ocean migrations from Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia to the world's fourth-largest island. With a recent increase in research by scholars from various disciplines, the details surrounding Madagascar's settlement are slowly taking form. Within this context, I enquire what the study of music can contribute towards these investigations. By foregrounding musical instruments, the tangible aspects of musical culture, I present important evidence linking Madagascar to these Indian Ocean regions. My approach is two-fold. Firstly, I conduct a classification-based organological study by comparing several Malagasy instruments to examples found in Southeast Asia, East Africa and West Asia. I argue, on the basis of strikingly similar forms and names with the same roots, that these Malagasy instruments are localised versions of instruments diffused to the island. Secondly, I foreground Madagascar's national instrument, the valiha, by examining its visual development and incorporation of symbolic imagery. By viewing it as an object that is not limited to making beautiful sounds, I reveal how the valiha embodies enormous amounts of knowledge. This knowledge, often relating to heritage and identity, situates the musical instrument as a potentially vital constituent to advance the study of Malagasy origins. 2025-04-17T08:34:19Z 2025-04-17T08:34:19Z 2018 2025-04-17T08:32:53Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41391 eng application/pdf College of Music Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | Music Adams, Rashid Epstein Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| title_full | Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| title_fullStr | Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| title_full_unstemmed | Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| title_short | Madagascar's Musical Migrations: Instruments as Framework to Reimagine Early Indian Ocean Contact |
| title_sort | madagascar s musical migrations instruments as framework to reimagine early indian ocean contact |
| topic | Music |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41391 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT adamsrashidepstein madagascarsmusicalmigrationsinstrumentsasframeworktoreimagineearlyindianoceancontact |