Thanks guys ! It was a wonderful experience for us, and specially, to have the Malagasy bands here. Just so you know, Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and Mauritius, where I live, one of the richest - comparatively speaking of course, we're not at the level of European countries either. So, I went there a few times, specially for rock/metal festivals, and was amazed by what I saw. Most Malagasy musicians play on entry level gear, like chinese copies of Ibanez guitars, Zoom G1 effects etc... All the amps I saw on stage were entry level too, no real tube amps but things like Marshall MG Dfx etc. But despite this, and the poor quality of FOH speakers, what I saw amazed me. Let me use a google translation the text I wrote for the event below :
For me, it all started in 2016, when an American author and musician, Edward Banchs, published Heavy Metal Africa, a book devoted to metal bands in several African countries, including Madagascar and Mauritius. Thanks to him, a bridge was built between the two African nations, through Tsilavina Razafindrasamy (from the group Seth On Fire, Madagascar), who after reading the passage dedicated to me in the book, contacted me to seek advice on sound engineering. Through exchanges on Messenger, we became friends, and a few years later, in 2022, I went to Antananarivo to technically support Seth On Fire at a festival, Rage of Rock (I bought them a trigger for the kick and a drum module with samples, which they kept). I then discovered the richness and astonishing level of the Malagasy rock/metal scene - 30 groups in two days, and I only saw a dozen! Since then, I dreamed of bringing groups from the Big Island to Mauritius. It finally happened on October 6 and 7, with no less than four groups and artists from Madagascar, Seth On Fire, Dark'Inside, Alkiniah and Erica DuRock - 19 musicians and singers in total.
Through this cultural exchange, I wanted to give them the opportunity to play in a professional venue with great technical conditions. I also wanted to encourage vocations among metal fans to Maurice, through emulation. Metal has dozens of subgenres, but in Mauritius, with a very small number of groups, there are mostly death or djent bands. In Madagascar, on the other hand, I saw everything: thrash, classic or melodic death, power, speed, symphonic, prog, grindcore, extreme black metal - this variety also applies to rock in the broad sense, with bands sounding like AC/DC etc. Madagascar is like a country totally forgotten by the big global metal groups, who never play there, and it's like the musicians there recreate the music of their idols, all styles combined, but in their own way. Evanescence, Lamb of God, Arch Enemy, Stratovarius have never played there? Never mind, Madagascar has groups that are extremely reminiscent of those. I was also surprised by the number of female musicians and singers in these groups, whereas in Mauritius, you could count on the fingers of Django Reinhardt's hand (sorry!
) the number of girls in rock groups and metal... The groups that performed in Mauritius are all led by female singers, and I also hoped to encourage Mauritian women to take the plunge ! But, above all, I wanted to build a bridge between our two countries.
This festival was also an opportunity for my own band, Feedback, to come out of a very long hibernation, our last public appearance dating back to 2008. Initially, we had planned to play our own songs, which are in the prog metal register. But as I had physical issues with my arms and hands (
and I'm still battling with them), we chose to present a special repertoire (
easier for me to play, even if I struggled with songs like "Another brick in the wall pt 1" because of a weak right hand), "Feedback Plays Pink Floyd". The “Mauritian Tribute to Pink Floyd” project of 2016 to 2019 was originally an old dream of the Feedback musicians, from 1990. So, this time we played under the Feedback name.
Let me add, regarding the Malagasy musicians, that it was an incredible human experience too. Most of them have never left their country, or even take a plane ! I will cherish all the days we spent together. The whole project was almost completely financed through my Company Fremen Presets, including the plane tickets, accommodation, meals, transportation... I lost a lot of money (even if the shows were sold out I would have) but I'm Ok with that, I enjoyed every moment of it, and they did too.
Last but not least, let's not forget what this forum is about : the presets programming sessions with the guitar players, who came to Mauritius a few days earlier, were absolutely great ! Even I learned a thing or two about the needs of metal players. Of course, the Axe-Fx III was something totally new for them, as I said, they use Zoom G1 or entry level guitar amps ! They won't be able to afford even a FM3, but are now convinced of the benefits of amp modeling for live use. I will add the presets I made for them to one of my metal packs soon, but for now, let me share with you some videos, which are still "unlisted" at the moment :
Alkiniah, a power metal band :
Dark'Inside, melodic death metal :
The guitar players on the left of the stage use the Axe-Fx III. I wanted to use the FM9 for the other guitar player but I kept it as a backup for the Axe-Fx III
