An edited part of Hanitra's report on the first year of the scheme
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Valiha High pupils
Four villages have been visited in the outskirts of the capital Antananarivo - Fenomanana, Mahazoarivo, Morarano and Ambohimiandra. In Morarano we discovered that the village even had its own valiha teacher, so the children did not need to wait to be taught while members of Tarika were away on tour. Rakotozafy Jules is a very fine valiha/marovany player from the Betsileo tribe. He is about 42 years old and was delighted that his skill would be of some use and that he could get paid for it too!
At the moment we can only afford to pay one teacher per village and run the scheme in one village at a time. I hope to be able to change this situation soon but more fund raising activities must take place. One teacher can only handle a maximum of 15 children. Sometimes, 2 or 3 drop out and do not attend until the end but they still get to keep a valiha. Apart from bad timing of Valiha High publicity last November during the presidential election campaign when our posters were covered up by publicity for politicians, nothing has ever affected the numbers of children attending. In fact, we have had to limit them because of our budget!
During our first year, there were about 60 children taught (an average of 15 children per village) and their age varied from 8 to 26. Our original intention was to limit the scheme to those between 8 and I5 but it was impossible to refuse those between 15 and 30 who wanted to attend the lessons since they were all so keen, which was of course good news. It actually took a lot of persuading of the parents of the younger ones to let their children follow the scheme - a lot of hard work for the organiser. Because of this, we have decided that the age group will in future be between 9 and 25 years old. There might still be some exceptions: for example, one old woman wanted to follow the scheme so that she could teach her own children at home at their own pace. By the way, it is also interesting to note that there are more girls than boys interested in playing the instruments, quite a change from traditional practice.
Children had 2 hour lessons every Saturday afternoon for 6 weeks to introduce them to the instrument, teach them basic playing skills and show them how to create a song to perform at the end of the session. They were given one valiha each to take home on which to practice and these instruments belong to them when the term is over.
So far, we have been blessed by the spirit of the ancestors, for all the halls which we have been allowed to use to teach this sacred instrument came free of charge! So far they have all been local church (Protestant and Catholic) halls. Huge thanks must go to those who were so kind as to permit their use.
Mr. Randrianarivo, the best valiha maker in Madagascar who is now very old, is still the provider of our valiha. Unfortunately, this is one area in which we encountered an unexpected problem. The valiha has now gained in fame abroad, and one particular company has gained a monopoly over the supply of materials, buying bamboo in bulk. As sole supplier, they are then able to buy finished instruments at a low price from Mr. Randrianarivo, but only sell them at the high prices that foreigners can afford. This has created problems for locals - including us - to find good valiha at economic prices. Even if the children want to buy a valiha in a different key to the one we donated, they cannot afford it. But perhaps because of Valiha High, a new generation of valiha makers will eventually surface.
In February 1997, we held a party at the church hall of Ambohimiandra to give out certificates of achievement to all students who attended the course, and prizes for the three best valiha players. Each village class played 2 tunes together to demonstrate their work and then each student played a piece on their own. Rakotoarivony Mamy, young man of 20 was the overall winner. It was unbelievable that he had only learnt the instrument for six weeks. His finger plucking speed already matches that of any professional player! Andrianaivo Heritina came second, another young man of 24. His ambition was to turn church music accompaniments into a valiha orchestra. Rajoelinarivo Hajamanana, a young lady of 17 came third. She is very bright and creative.
Judging by what we spent in the first year, it looks like I will have to raise at least £500 every year to keep the scheme running. When you think about it, that really is an exceptionally small budget for a scheme that achieves so much. Please feel free to donate, and spread the word to anybody else who you think might be interested in helping us.