Randriamananjara Radofa Besata Jean Longin was born in 1956 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He is a Canadian-Malagasy folk and blues guitarist, who records under the stage name Madagascar Slim. He is a member of the folk music band Tri-continental, and world music group African Guitar Summit, as well as a solo artist and collaborator with blues singer Ndidi Onukwulu. He moved to Toronto at the age of 23 to study accounting and ended up joining a French-Canadian folk troupe led by his now-wife, Catherine St-Cyr. He played at blues bars with names such as Jeff Healey, but eventually returned home to Madagascar to reconnect with his roots. He would return as the artist he is known as today, tapping into the “rhythms of his youth”. He is now a three-time Juno Award winner. He won the 2000 award for World Music Album of the Year for his solo album OmniSource, and in 2005 with African Guitar Summit. He then won the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year award in 2001 with Tri-Continental. Slim has created a unique style, combining his admiration for blues artists such as B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix, with his own homegrown rhythms, influenced by artists such as Ny Antsaly.