Eka It Out: Hanitra Ranaivo and "Eka"

Hanitra Ranaivo brings us today's random tune, called Eka. From Madagascar, Hanitra Ranaivo joined the group Lolo Sy Ny Tariny which became popular in her homeland. In 1979, New Zealand-French singer-songwriter Graeme Allwright toured Madagascar and heard Lolo Sy Ny Tariny. He invited them to France to make an album. Ranaivo and other members of the group decided to stay in France to pursue an international career. Eventually, members of the band decided to go their own way and Ranaivo settled in Brittany where she pursued her musical career. In 1997, she returned to Madagascar for the first time and gave a series of concerts with local musicians. The public loved her which encouraged her to make her first solo album, which she released on her own in France and where it met with popular success. In 2005 she moved to the French protectorate of Reunion, where she released a second album in 2011 which met with popular success around the world and inspired American country icon Keith Urban to give her a guitar after hearing her album by chance. Eka can be found on her 2015 album Lasa. The albums's title song is a tribute to the late Canadian singer Lhasa de Sela, and all the songs celebrate women.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanitra