Introducing: Bobo & Behaja
14 May 2026
Lucia Gadau meets Maxime Bobo, the free-jazz-loving French saxophonist who, with Malagasy guitarist Behaja, is carrying Madagascar’s ceremonial tsapiky music to the world
An electric guitar and saxophone simultaneously kick into action on ‘Parepare’, the first track on Bobo & Behaja’s debut album Aia Haja?. The bass and drums jump as the song erupts into a non-stop tsapiky groove with vocals that playfully skip along.
Tsapiky is upbeat and rhythmic ceremonial music, played during weddings, funerals and local festivals in south-western Madagascar. Originating in the 70s, it takes its cue from indigenous Malagasy music, although Bobo & Behaja’s Maxime Bobo is quick to point out that it’s a living tradition, propelled by amped-up guitars and relentless percussion: “It’s played in the traditional context,” he says, “but it’s modern music because it was born with the electric guitar, bass and drums.”
Bobo now adds sax to the genre’s arsenal. Curiously, it was through free-jazz greats like Ornette Coleman that Bobo first found a route into African music. He explains that Coleman played “lots of very bright, joyous melodies, with major, diatonic scales”, saying that he “fell in love with lots of modern African music” because it had the same “repetitive riffs and major scales” and also allowed for lots of improvisation. In particular, he became fond of tsapiky, wanting to learn how to pick apart its tight rhythmic structure. “Subconsciously,” he says, “I wanted to be able to play it even ten years ago.” Older Malagasy musicians from the 90s like guitarist Damily and his brother Rakapo became artists that he looked up to. “I was hoping to meet them and be able to play with them one day,” he says.
In 2018, Bobo travelled to Madagascar with his then-band Electric Vocuhila to meet and rehearse with Rakapo, who took him to a mandriampototsy. This is a celebration, which could be a wedding or funeral, and can last from three to five days, and typically features tsapiky. It was his first encounter with the Malagasy guitarist Behaja. “We rehearsed for two weeks in Madagascar just so we could hear [Behaja’s] songs while trying to adapt them to what we were doing,” he says. The fruits of that trip can be heard on Kiteky, a 2022 album by Electric Vocuhila. The album featured Behaja and other Malagasy musicians and gained acclaim in Madagascar.
After Kiteky, Bobo wanted to continue working with Malagasy musicians, and he formed Bobo & Behaja. “Most tsapiky bands get their name from the guitar player,” says Bobo, but on this album it’s himself and Behaja who get equal billing. This is because, unlike most tsapiky bands, Bobo & Behaja are led by sax too. On the extended improvisations that are such a big part of the music, it is the two of them who alternately lead the charge. Rounding out the group are Bobo’s fellow Frenchman, bassist François Rosenfeld, and from Madagascar: Gérard Rakotoniaina on drums, and either Malala, Ekaly or Pelahita on vocals.
“It’s very important for me to collaborate with Malagasy musicians,” says Bobo, who doesn’t want to simply learn from tsapiky musicians and then teach the style back in France. In 2025, Sublime Frequencies released Tsapiky! Modern Music From Southwest Madagascar, a set of new tsapiky tracks recorded live by Bobo which featured Behaja, Rebona and other contemporaries. This was an extension of his work with Fifangaroa, a non-profit organisation supporting tsapiky musicians which has been publishing collections of recordings from Madagascar on Bandcamp. “As a musician, I feel I also have to help them be known,” says Bobo. “I’m trying to get tsapiky out of Madagascar.”
+ Aia Haja? is out now. ‘Rafoza Manday Tandra’ is on this issue’s Top of the World compilation, track 13