Rahary Tahina

Contact with music started at a tender age. Born in Madagascar, an island paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean, he came from a large family who all shared a love for good music. At the young age of 6 he made his first moves on the drums, and turned professional when he was 9 with his father’s orchestra “Les fréres Albert” made up of various family members. As one of the most famous orchestras of Madagascar, they toured the country playing Jazz music and good french music from the 60..s. Later, at 11 he started the guitar, saxophone and flute, but the guitar became his preferred instrument. The necessity to learn more about music spurred him on to teach himself, and to devour every type of relevant book on the subject.
In 1982, he moved to Grenoble in France to study Law at the university there; but ended up devoting himself full time to music. It was at this time he received an offer to be part of an afro-funk group “Voa Bongosso”, a definitive launch into the European scene. The group that included an Italian, an Angolan, a Frenchman and an Algerian toured Germany for six months. There they played in various Internationally renowned places such as:Quasimodo, Quartier Latin in Berlin; Club Voltaire in Frankfurt; Luxor in Cologne, etc. There followed a trip to Portugal in 1984, the success of which superseded all expectations, in various popular venues north and south of the country. This became a watershed experience. In 1985 the group broke up but Tahina stayed in Portugal, living in Lisbon and working with various renowned Portuguese artists: Lena d’Água, Jorge Palma, Teresa Mayuko and others. His enduring passion for jazz was nourished by his studies of the masters like Joe Pass, Joe Diorio, Don Mock, John Scofield and Scott Henderson; and taking on board the methods of Dan Haerle (the jazz language – A Theory Text for jazz Composition and Improvisation -), Garrison Fewell (Jazz Improvisation), Charlie Parker (Omnibook) and Ted Greene (Chord Chemistry). This phase was also the beginning of a more creative period and Tahina emerging as a notable composer. At the end of 1987 his music “Voar” sung by Lena d’Água reached number six in the national charts. His compositions were premiered at the “Teatro de Comuna” and the Hot Club of Portugal in 1988. The end of 80’s and beginning of the 90’s saw Tahina giving lessons in jazz improvisation and Afro-Cuban music at the Ártico –Centro de Artes Interpretativas. Now into the 90’s he recorded an Angolan singer/songwriter Filipe Mukenga’s first album and toured with him in Brazil, France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. At the end of 1996 Tahina recorded his first CD titled “Children/Crianças”, in which he displays his various influences such as jazz, music of Madagascar even classical music. FUSION – is the term Tahina would use to define his music. Some of the great names of the Portuguese jazz scene have collaborated with him for example: Enzo D’Aversa (piano), Yuri Daniel (bass) and Alexandre Frazão (drums). Album recorded on RMS label, produced and arranged by Tahina. In 1997 and 1998, he travelled the length and breadth of Portugal with his quintet, where besides being a style of music with less exposure, was well received by the public. In the middle of the1998, Tahina joined the orchestra of a popular Portuguese comedian Herman José and recorded a series of programs for RTP (Rádio Televisão Portuguesa), “Herman 98” which two years later moved to another TV channel (SIC) and is still being broadcast, with Tahina in the front row of the orchestra.
In 1999, his career as an arranger and producer took a new turn. He was responsible for producing the CD of the Brazilian artist Nill Luz featuring various international artists (Luís Pastor from Spain, Paulo de Carvalho and Eugénia Melo e Castro from Portugal, Toninho Horta, Juarez Moreira and the band Funky Latas from Brazil) also he had the privilege of arranging previously unreleased music of Tom Jobim “Não devo sonhar” with his sister lyrics Helena Jobim. At the moment, the new millennium finds Tahina involved in a new project “Adufes” (typical framed drums) in which one can encounter diverse styles of music including traditional Portuguese music and Celtic music, combinations of which can produce very interesting results and original sounds. At the same time, Tahina is working on a new initiative, which is still in the research stage, and is a “world music” investigation primarily into musical influences of his origins...

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