Roberts sings mainly in his mother tongue Malagasy, but incorporates global musical influences into his compositions. His most recent album, Internation, is a prime example. It fuses his passionate guitar playing with Egyptian, Nigerian, North American-Aboriginal, Japanese, Russian and Celtic music.
“It took me a couple years to get that album done,” he said. “That’s just me.” He took time and care to properly blend the sounds and incorporate all the different cultures.
Roberts won a Juno in 2005 as part of The African Guitar Summit, a collective of nine Canadian musicians of African origin.
The group came together in three days and debuted in concert on the fourth day at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio. Roberts remains active with the ensemble, which still tours occasionally.
Earlier in his music career, Roberts became a poster boy for the MTV generation when the network came to Russia at the end of 1997.
“They were looking for a black guy who spoke Russian and who looked like a musician.” He had long dreadlocks at the time, a deviation from the typical “clean cut people” on Russian TV. With previous experience interviewing people on camera, Roberts was the perfect candidate.
While working at the network for a year he hosted a ground-breaking, one-hour show called Mambassa. It was Russia’s first official program about “underground” music like rap, hip hop and rock. “Before that, Russian TV wouldn’t show any of those things.”
The show’s Saturday night 10 p.m. time slot cinched its popularity.
Roberts is currently in the process of conceiving a follow-up album to 2011’s Internation. A Canadian documentary filmmaker is also working on a film about Roberts’ life, his experiences during his 23 years in Russia and his musical pursuits.
Roberts performs with percussionist Babel at the Legion on Friday, March 1. The show begins at 7 p.m.
