Sleeping In The Market [Ethiopian Music & Sounds From Amhara] [2005]

                           R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

         Basically an audio travel scrapbook, Sleeping in the Market takes listeners on a tour of the Ethiopian region of Amhara. 

       Our guides are Mehari Smon and his son Yayehe. The former is making a pilgrimage back to his roots; the latter is pointing a microphone at local musicians, whether they are professionals performing in an Adiss-Abbaba teahouse or children singing and dancing in the streets of poor neighborhoods. 

           The Smons are quiet guides, letting the people and places speak for themselves. Their document presents music caught in the social act, music embedded in everyday life. 

        A young girl greets us first on the street, singing to support her family. Her "Laluyeah" is quite moving. She belongs to a small group of children coming back regularly throughout this short album -- their songs offer a counterpoint to their elders' music, of which "Endaw Mela Mela" is the most significant. Captured in a teahouse and 13 minutes in duration, it features a male/female duo of singers. The man also plays the accordion in a style very typical of that part of Africa, while the vocals hint at Muslim cultures, especially the art of qawwali (both in the vocal inflections and the call-and-response system). 

       The album is slightly short at 39 minutes, but it offers a pleasant listening curve. 

1. Laluyeah (Yearning Song)      (3:38)

2. Bale-Whashinto      (3:20)

3. Berewoo Taha Taha (The Bull, Taha, Taha)      (8:03)

4. Demam Era Dema      (1:36)

5. Aderch Arada (Sleeping In The Market)      (1:47)

6. Bale Ageru      (2:29)

7. Ney, Ney, Ney (Come, Come, Come)      (5:08)

8. Endiaw Mela Mela (Compassion)      (13:03)

     The production/compilation approach is somewhat similar to Sublime Frequencies' line of field recordings (Streets of Lhasa, for instance). ~ François Couture