Razia

Artist's Website

Seeking to raise awareness of the critical impact of slash and burn agriculture and climate change in her native Madagascar, singer Razia Said has created a stunning and moving album of original songs entitled Zebu Nation. Now available worldwide, the album celebrates the wealth of Malagasy musical culture. 10% of the net profits from the sale of Zebu Nation will be used to plant trees in Madagascar.

Razia began singing for her family in Madagascar at the age of three. At age eleven, Razia went to live with her mother in Gabon, West Africa, where she joined the local church choir. As a teenager, she was sent to boarding school in France, where she played guitar and began writing songs. Seeking stability, Razia obtained her doctorate in pharmacy in France, and has lived in Italy, Bali and Ibiza. She now lives in Harlem, New York where she performs regularly at several of the city’s well-known venues.

Madagascar is home to thousands of plants and fauna unique to the island, which is the world’s fourth largest and situated in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. One third of its native forests and vegetation have disappeared in the last thirty years, and scientists predict that several species of amphibians and reptiles found in Madagascar’s mountainous north could become extinct in the next 50-100 years because of global warming.

The loss of forests in Madagascar is what galls Razia the most.”To see my country stripped like this is heartbreaking.”