While in the West teenagers put on plastic wigs and played air guitar to the music of the Beatles, Madagascar was rocking to the very different sounds of Rakotozafy, who died in poverty at the start of the 70's.

His songs achieved national fame through radio broadcasts and a set of records released by DiscoMad, the country's main recording studio. They seeped into the national consciousness and for a time unified the different musical traditions of the 18 Madagascan tribes.

Some of his songs have now been re-released as a CD and a recent UK television profile of the late musician has increased the sudden surge in international appreciation of Madagascar's music.

Presenter and producer Paddy Bush, brother of the more famous Kate, has long been active in promoting the traditional music of the area, reassuring a society swamped by the sounds of the West of the value of their musical traditions and encouraging the Malagasy to maintain their musical skills.

"There's very little difference between the extinction of animals and the death of musical culture," said Paddy Bush. "Without interest from the outside world, musical traditions will shrivel and die just as surely as the rainforests. Often the tunes and rhythms have been handed down over hundreds of years without ever once being written down. If the local instruments aren't even played the whole aural culture can just disappear."

Paddy's interest in the music of Madagascar was first sparked by his ethno-musicologist tutor at the London College of Furniture, where he was studying the making of musical instruments. But it wasn't until 1993 that he managed to get out to Madagascar on the first of many visits.

"At that time," he recalled, "there was very little interest in Madagascan music and many of the musicians I was tracing from old recordings hadn't picked up their instruments for 20 years. I'd taught myself to play the local instruments and found myself in the extraordinary situation of re-introducing the Malagasy to their own history. Over the last few years they've seen that there's interest from the West and there's a real revival in their own culture."

Back in the 1960's there was a UNESCO project to bring traditional music into the school curriculum. But Bush doubts that would ever have worked in Madagascar. "There are just too many cultures and they are all too different. But it would cost nothing in Western terms to set up a music school to teach people to play traditional instruments - as little as 150 pounds a year perhaps - and my dream is to see five such centres around the country.

"There's already one school in the capital, Antananarivo, run by a brilliant musician called Rajery. He teaches the Valiha, an instrument made from stringing untwisted bicycle brake cable along a bamboo tube, fretted out with fragments of Calabash. I find it seems to require at least three hands to play but he manages even though he's only got one. His teaching technique is brilliant and he claims to be able to teach the instrument in just 20 hours. I wish I'd had his help when I was learning how to play."

According to Bush, the Malagasy have extraordinary ability. "They learn music just by hearing it. Take a complex LP andafter hearing it through two or three times they'll be able to play the whole thing. But like everywhere else it would be easy for them to get swamped by the international music industry. Traditional music is an endangered species in itself and depends on the West for support."

Strangely, the tourist industry in Africa often seems to pretend there is no local music. While local minibuses pulsate with the sounds of the streets, upmarket hotels tend to offer wall-to-wall muzak with only the occasional tribal hop-through in recognition of the local culture.

Guidebook publishers, The Rough Guides, have gone further than most to promote the music of the countries they send tourists to. In combination with the World Music Network they have published at least 25 CD's that aim to introduce the rich musical traditions alongside the guidebooks. Areas include South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, West Africa and Zimbabwe.

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) lent their support to a CD entitled 'African Blues' and have a project to provide DJ's at festivals. The aim is to promote a positive image of developing nations. Phil Stanton from the World Music Network said: "It's important to show people that there is an Africa beyond a string of disasters. And although interest in world music is growing, there's not much information about which musicians are worth listening to and where concerts are happening. We aim to correct that". Their website (http://www.oneworld.org/vso/music/routes.htm) includes African music charts and a callender of upcoming events.

Perhaps the easiest way to help is to buy World Music CD's. For example, Rakotozafy's 'Valiha Malaza' is available from GlobeStyle Records, 46-50 Steele Road, London NW10 7AS, UK.

The UK magazine Folk Roots has a comprehensive site that includes World Music charts and a selection of features about Africa. They also throw in a complete discography of Madagascan music, perhaps because their editor is married to top Madagascan musician Tarika. The Folk Roots internet site is at www.froots.demon.co.uk//

Published in Travel Africa Edition Five: Autumn 1998. Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)