Samoëla

Samoëla Rasolofoniaina, better known as Samoëla, is a Malagasy vocalist and composer of contemporary folk fusion and roots music that draws upon musical traditions throughout the island of Madagascar. He typically sings and plays acoustic guitar, accompanied by an ensemble including bass guitar, Western and traditional percussion, and backup singers. He is distinguished by his use of hainteny traditional poetry and its metaphorical language, as well as youth slang and culturally subversive direct language to critique and address sensitive social and political topics.

==Early life== Samoëla Rasolofoniaina was born in Madagascar on 2 April 1976. In school he began writing poetry and particularly the traditional Malagasy poetry form called hainteny, which incorporates proverbs and figurative language to address culturally sensitive topics. At the same time, he studied theater performance for four years under Christiane Ramanantsoa, a leading Malagasy actress, author and promoter of the arts. In his late teens and early twenties he studied marketing and tourism at ISCAM, with the intent to open a musical production company for the promotion of Malagasy artists.