Album Notes

*FIRST PLACE WORLD MUSIC CATEGORY 2004 INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING COMPETITION* Modeste is an ace musician, razor sharp, endlessly inventive, his warm songs coloured by exuberance, tenderness, and buckets of joie-de-vivre. -- David Ingram / Penguin Eggs Hugues is a pleasingly smoky-toned singer and a fine guitarist, able to play rhythm and lead all at once. He's so effective in this musical sleight of hand that audience members scan the stage in search of a (non-existent) second guitar player. -- Jamie Renton/The Independent With the almost endless variety of rhythms, tempos and styles, and with a growing UK-based population of talented Malagasy musicians such as Modeste, there's no reason why the unique and distinctive style of the Indian Ocean's jewel shouldn't break a few barriers here, too. -- John Armstrong / BBC "Though I left Betroka as a young man, Malagasy music is embedded in my heart - it's in my blood. It keeps me cool and happy." - Modeste Born in Betro