Silky is a silky sifaka lemur from Marojejy (MAR-oh-JAY-“G”) National Park in northern Madagascar. In the trees, Sifaka lemurs move by swinging nimbly between branches and vines. On the ground, sifakas move by “dancing” sideways. A master musician, Silky is both the band’s drummer and studio engineer/recorder. Rarely seen without his signature “Silky Sunglasses,” Silky is the most fashionable member of the group. Sadly, like all silky sifaka lemurs, Douglas is endangered.
Silky is stylish, vain, and – sometimes – he takes himself A LITTLE TOO SERIOUSLY. Silky always takes music very seriously. From the sound quality in his recording studio (where he records the band’s albums) to the stage setups on tour, he expects and demands perfection.
The folks at The Lemur Letter recently interviewed Silky for their “Gimme 5” – Five questions with a celebrity segment. Here is what they learned about Silky:
The Lemur Letter: How did you come to Ranomafana?
Silky: I have been through a lot to get here. When I was only 4 years old, my family and I were chased out of our home in Marojejy national park by illegal loggers. We were then trapped by people catching lemurs for a zoo. They took my parents and my sister, but one of the captors said to another that I was not cute enough for the zoo, so they let me go. You would never believe it now, since I am very good looking and stylish today, but I was kind of awkward and funny looking when I was young. Anyway, the experience with the zoo people made me really sensitive about my appearance, and I became quiet and shy. Because of this shyness, I focused all of my free time on music as a kind of escape. Over the next few years all this music practice turned me into an amazing musician. Now pretty much everybody likes me. I am still a little skittish from having been chased by loggers and trapped by trappers. I am still very claustrophobic and I hate nets. My friends say I kind of freak out when I am in danger… which is actually a lot since I am endangered.
The Lemur Letter: What is your greatest strength?
Silky: I have really good ears. They are really good looking ears, obviously. But more than that, they are really good ears for music. I have the ability to hear a musical note and immediately identify the note as a “C” or a “G” or something like that. That ability is called “perfect pitch.” It helps me record music, play music and sing along to music. I don’t think I would be such an amazing musician without that ability.
The Lemur Letter: What is your greatest weakness?
Silky: I’m endangered, and I am not outdoorsy. I can’t swim very well, and bad things (bee stings, falls, etc) always happen to me on hikes. This would be a particularly bad combination for a lemur living in the wild. So I came to Ranomafana and built my studio here by the village where it is easy to get food.
The Lemur Letter: If you could change one thing about the band, what would it be?
Silky: I love the community and the scenery in Ranomafana, but I think the band should be in London or New York or Shanghai to be closer to our fans and to be on more TV shows and things like that.
The Lemur Letter: The band has unique geographic roots. You have a numbat from Australia, a girl from California, a ring tailed lemur from central-Madagascar, and you are from northern Madagascar. How do you all get along?
Silky: Good question… sometimes we don’t! We spend a lot of time together, so we can drive each other crazy. I like Jenny a lot – she has so much energy all the time and always wants to do things. Sometimes it wears me out! I think Mister Lemur can be a nerd at times, but is a great writer and he keeps things organized and things just wouldn’t work right without him. Numbat is like that kid brother that gets under your skin, but you love him anyway… though I can’t always remember why. Numbat drives me crazy with his lack of culture when we are traveling to other countries. He is always accidently offending people with his jokes and pranks… and it seems he particularly enjoys playing pranks on me! So while we have different personalities, we work well together as a team and a band.