| Summary: | This article offers a redefinition of the identificatory dimension of trance music based on the analysis of possession rituals among the Tandroy in southern Madagascar. The identificatory value of trance music had been expressed by Rouget in semantic terms: the music would be the signifier of the signified spirit. Based on the description of Tandroy ritual situations and of the musical actions collectively performed during these possession rituals, the aim of this article is to show the existence of another level of semantic relation, which leads to a change of anthropological perspective regarding the identificatory value of music in this ritual context. The argument takes into account the dynamic aspect of this practice of possession, influenced by the very strong mobility of a population that lives most often in bi-residence between its region of origin and different places on the island. Since the 1970s, the possessing spirits among the Tandroy belong to two categories – one indigenous, the other resulting from migration – to which specific rituals are associated, music being their main distinctive element. My hypothesis is that the relation between the actors and the music symbolizes the relation to the territory as experienced by the Tandroy. According to this approach, the principle of identification no longer concerns only the relationship between the possessed and the spirit, but also that of the ritual actors to their collective identity.
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