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​ Still, he continued to do the studio work, until the owner of the studio asked him to join him as a permanent session guitarist, which he accepted. He had already built a repertoire of his own songs and wanted to record them but couldn’t afford enough studio time. He had spend three years there working as a guitarist and technical assistant, before getting back to his job as a full-time doctor. While working there he started discovering other kinds of music and influences.

Yet, his main inspiration was his love for the island and his native region of Menabe, the lyrics reflecting the traditional values and the life of the people, even though he wrote a few love songs.

Robotoson Mampandry Modeste – nicknamed Fataka was born at Belosur-Tsiribihina, in the west of Madagascar. His first dream was to become a doctor. He remembers being in awe of his father, still a medical student then, wearing his white gown, a stethoscope hanging around his neck, with a blood pressure meter in hand. Fataka got his nickname in his childhood but can’t remember why of who gave it to him. He didn’t like it, though which is rather unsurprising considering that the word means “a rooster” or , if you will, “a cock”. He remembers always being mocked because of that, and it took him a long time to accept it.

But there were pleasant things to remember too. Like listening to the music on the shortwave radio. Many African radio station could be heard clearly in Madagascar, an island nation, off the southeastern coast of Africa. Fataka’s father loved listening to the radio, especially the shows from the legendary Voice of America. At night he’d get just a few hours of sleep, and then wake up, patiently waiting for the music which he would then often tape on cassettes. He loved guitar music in general. American country tunes and singers – people like Don Williams, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris – as well as the blues songs sung by Ray Charles. The local Malagasy folk music was always there too.

In Madagascar, particularly in the region where Fataka grew up, the old traditions and culture are still very much alive. Music, too, plays a huge part of the daily life. The people sing working in the fields, while hunting and fishing. The shepherds sing while looking after their flock. Of course, just like everywhere, they all sing and play for fun and pleasure too. During the festivals and feast, different groups can be found sharing the same space, playing and singing at the same time, without being in each other’s way even though the genres and repertoires played can vary strongly.

As a boy, Fataka often sang together with his cousin. They would take a piece of wood pretending it was a guitar, so when he was 11, his father got him a real thing, a cheap little acoustic guitar made in Korea – Fataka still remembers the name of the manufacturer : it was a “Kapok”. He’d watch his father trying to master a church song – Tia Zaza – and asked him to teach him. It took him a while but finally, he did it – he could play his first tune even though it was just one string. Afterwards, he couldn’t help feeling that this was a beginning of something. Soon enough he’d learned more songs and that same year he joined his first band formed by children at the local church’s Sunday school.

By the time he was 13, he knew he wanted to become a musician – a guitarist and a singer. He dreamed of having albums with his name printed on them and making a living out of it. Every day after school, he’d take his guitar and go to someone who could play. Sometimes he’d bring a tape, and ask the players to copy the songs from it, and watching carefully, studying the way they learned the songs by ear. At home he’d try to repeat it, and little by little he was able to do it too. He still couldn’t name the chords he was playing.

When he was 17, he joined the church choir as a guitarist. The experience helped him to improve his chords and harmony knowledge as well as his singing. He started to write too, for the first time. At 20 he went to the University of Tananarive to study medicine, on a very meager scholarship. His younger sister who got married and moved to the city, helped him a great deal, and continued to do so throughout his college days.

Even though he worked hard at his studies, together with a couple of friends he started a band called Tsivery. The band played mostly the Malagasy folksongs, and some of the “world music”. They recorded three albums and played a few international festivals, in Norway in 2003 and in Denmark in 2004. They had steady weekends gigs in Tananarive, or they’d be accompanying other performers in concerts and studio sessions. In the meantime, Fataka finished his studies in 2003 and became a medical; doctor.