It is not often that you get a band from Madagascar playing in Nairobi, much less a hard rock group from the island country off the southeastern coast of Africa.
The Dizzy Brains, a socially and politically conscious garage rock band from Madagascar, will play two gigs in the city next week on their first-ever trip to Kenya.
They identify with a classic sub-genre of rock, named from the perception that the musicians rehearsed in their family garages. It is raw, hard-edged sound that first became popular in the US in the mid-1960s and then flourished worldwide.
“It is a great time to be coming to Kenya for the first time,” says band leader and vocalist Eddy Andrianarisoa, 33 via a WhatsApp call earlier this week as they were winding up a tour of four shows in South Africa and heading on to the highly acclaimed Bushfire Festival in Eswatini. “We are looking forward to discovering the Kenyan music scene and above all interacting with the audiences there. We hope our energy and our committed message will resonate in Kenya and elsewhere.”
The popularity of rock music in Kenya has grown in recent years with a thriving movement of bands, events and fans dedicated to the genre. The musicians’ excitement has been raised by the rock community in Kenya reaching out to them ahead of their shows, including the Nairobi-based Afro-punk band, Crystal Axis will be on the bill during their maiden concert at the Alliance Francaise, Nairobi next week.
The quartet was founded in 2011 by Eddy (he claims the idea came to him while in the toilet) and his brother Mahefatiana Andrianarisoa, the band’s bassist, who is three years his junior. The other members are their friends, guitarist Harinjo Mahery Andriambelo, 33 and drummer Prudence Alba Ramamonjisoa, 38.
“Rock is an unusual genre in Africa, and even more so in Madagascar, but that is what motivates us,” says Eddy. “We use garage rock as a weapon to denounce injustice and express the anger of young people.”
The themes in their music will be familiar to Kenyans: poverty, political corruption, restrictions on freedom of expression and the destruction of the environment.
“Even if the local audience is sometimes limited, we have managed to build a solid underground scene and reach an international audience. Our music crosses borders and proves that rock can also live and grow in Africa,” adds Eddy.
The two brothers were introduced to music from the golden age of punk-rock from the 1960s -70s, by their father who was a guitarist and a collector of vinyl records.
They developed a sound inspired by legendary American groups from the era, notably the hard-edged rock of The Sonics, the Stooges and MC5.
The band’s name was inspired by the work of French artists Jacques Dutronc and Serge Gainsbourg whose sense of irony and a nonchalant attitude they admired. “Dutronc’s innovative approach inspired us to describe his style as ‘Dizzy’. All we had to do was add ‘Brains’ to complete this evocative name,” explains Eddy.
Their first EP Vangy, which translates from Malagasy as ‘being angry’ and their first two albums Out of the Cage and Tany Razana (burnt earth) set the tone for their activism against poverty, corruption and Madagascar’s vulnerability to the impact of global warming.
Dizzy Brains, the garage rock quartet from Madagascar, set to perform two shows in Nairobi on June 4 and 5, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Cyclones, droughts and destruction of the island’s unique ecosystems of coral reefs, forests and wetlands are an existential threat that the musicians are calling attention to.
Originally, they wrote songs in English due to the musical culture that they grew up with, but with time they switched to lyrics in their native Malagasy to connect with their culture while retaining a global rhythm.
Their third album Dahalo, released in 2022, refers to the bandits who spread terror in rural parts of Madagascar through the theft of zebu cattle, a significant part of the island’s cultural identity, a practice.
Their first international appearance during the 2015 edition of Trans Musicales de Rennes in France earned them the attention of many rock fans. They have since played at top festivals in the Netherlands, Portugal, Morocco, South Korea, Germany and the UK.
This may be their first time in Kenya, but they already have a local connection through their sound engineer manager Yann Hernot, who has lived in Kenya since 2022. “I have been with these guys for more than 10 years as their manager, engineer, driver, cook, their mum and dad,” he jokes.
Their repertoire will be a mix of the best songs from the albums Dahalo and the 2024 release, Maso Mahita (seeing eyes), which combine energetic garage rock with lyrics about the social realities in Madagascar.
They will also tap into their older catalogue for tracks like Vangy and Baby Jane from their debut album Out of Cage. “Our concert set is designed to get the audience moving while conveying a strong social message,” says bandleader Eddy. The Dizzy Brains will play at the Alliance Francaise, Nairobi on June 4 and the following day at the Geco Café, Lavington in Nairobi.
