The Music of Ethiopia - [1967] - Azmari Music of the Amharas (Anthology AST 6000, recorded by Ashenafi Kebede (LP)) [ethiopia]

Another extraordinary blog dedicated to world music sound I just found is :

MusicRepublic - World Traditional Music from LPs and Cassettes

Album and text are originally posted >>> HERE

This anthology showcases the music of the Azmari bards, or minstrels, from the Amhara Region in Northeastern Ethiopia. Most Amharas, aka as Abyssinians, are Christians, members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church founded in the 4th century. 

Melaku Gelaw - Misgana (Praise)

The gorgeous program featured here includes Melaku Gelaw playing solo washint wooden flute (A1, A4) and solo krar lyre (A2); and singing and playing krar (B1); Wolde Marriam singing and playing krar (A3); the powerful and inspired interplay between Asegedech Mekonnen’s spellbinding singing and Getamesay Abebe’s masinko, or masenqo, single-stringed bowed lute (A5, A6, B2, B3); and Getamesay Abebe singing and playing masinko (B4).

Melaku Gelaw (medium sized washint) - A1 - Misgana (Praise) (1:25)

Melaku Gelaw (krar) - A2 - YefiKir KeTaima (2:58)

Wolde Marriam (vocal and krar) - A3 - Satina Baburay (Heat-Driven Train of Mine) (3:07)

Melaku Gelaw (long washint) - A4 - Fanno (1:48)

M. Asegedech (vocal) / A. Getamesay (masinko) - A5 - Shilela (4:59)

M. Asegedech (vocal) / A. Getamesay (masinko) - A6 - Ambasel (4:57)

Melaku Gelaw (vocal and krar) - B1 - Shemonmuanaye (My Charming One) (2:51)

Asegedech Mekonnen (vocal) / A. Getamesay (masinko) - B2 - Tizita (5:04)

Asegedech Mekonnen (vocal) / A. Getamesay (masinko) - B3 - Bafi (5:14)

A. Getamesay (vocal and masinko) - B4 - Medina Zelesegna (5:44)

                             FULL BOOKLET INCLUDED   

Jano Band - Lerasih New [2018] [ethiopia]

Jano Band transcend the Rock genre by infusing traditional Ethiopian melodies and percussions, adding instruments of masinko, krar, and the washint, and bringing you to your feet with unforgettable languages of love and celebration.

Jano Band became the first Ethiopian band to feature on Coke Studio Africa when they collaborated with South African singer Shekhinah in Nairobi, Kenya, last year.

The band – which consists of two female vocalists, two male lead vocalists and six musicians on bass, guitars, keyboards and drums – was brought together by Addis Gessesse in 2011.

Since the release of "Ertale" in 2012 (also posted HERE), the group has collaborated and worked with American producer Bill Laswell who helped the group sparkle on the international arena.

Jano Band - Darigne

In September 2017, news broke that the band was on the verge of a breakup. The band disputed the reports through its current manager Sammy Tefera who went on to announce that the band would be launching its second album in early 2018.

Music In Africa caught up with one of the band’s lead vocalists, Dibekulu Tafesse, to talk about their 16-track album, Lerasih New, which was released on 1 February 2018.

MUSIC IN AFRICA: What was the inspiration behind Lerasih New?  

DIBEKULU TAFESSE: We named the album Lerasih New because it is a commonly used word which translates to 'For Yourself'. Our songs carry different themes that our fans relate to and in this album we choose to urge our fans to be conscious of their actions. As human beings we ocassionally do things without thinking about the consequences. So in this album we are pushing for self-awareness because no one should intentionally hurt themselves or ruin their lives simply because they made the wrong choice.

MUSIC IN AFRICA: Was the album produced in Ethiopia?

DIBEKULU TAFESSE: The assembling of the music, which is normally the first stage of recording, was done in Ethiopia but the engineering process was done in Italy at the Blumusica studio in Turin, and the final mastering was done at Lurssen Mastering Studio in Los Angeles, Califonia.

Working with good recording studios and producers has set us apart from other Ethiopian artists since the music that we produce is of high quality. On this project we worked with producer Kistet.

(brief interview is taken from site Music in Africa and it's posted HERE)

Jano Band - 01 - Leba (4:26)

Jano Band - 02 - Hadekiya (3:53)

Jano Band - 03 - Shegiye (4:09)

Jano Band - 04 - Engida (5:15)

Jano Band - 05 - Zew Zew (3:51)

Jano Band - 06 - Wey Zendro (3:24)

Jano Band - 07 - Gudie Fela (3:49)

Jano Band - 08 - Keteraraw Mado (6:22)

Jano Band - 09 - Hamza (3:48)

Jano Band - 10 - Tiz Alegn (5:03)

Jano Band - 11 - Hager Alegn (4:59)

Jano Band - 12 - Lib Sireta (5:21)

Jano Band - 13 - Kal (4:23)

Jano Band - 14 - Adagn (5:15)

Jano Band - 15 - Kenat Wediya (4:54)

Jano Band - 16 - Darign (4:28)

Gizachew Teshome - Des Belonal [2011] [ethiopia]

Gizachew Teshome - Ney Ney Mushiraye (ነይ ነይ ሙሺራየ)

Gizachew Teshome - 01 - Yegnh Mushera (8:19)

Gizachew Teshome - 02 - Anchi Hoye (9:47)

Gizachew Teshome - 03 - Yehew Lega (7:21)

Gizachew Teshome - 04 - Wendmye (12:11)

Gizachew Teshome - 05 - Musheraye (8:44)

Gizachew Teshome - 06 - Asha Gedawo (13:57)

Gizachew Teshome - 07 - Musheraye Abebaye (11:45)

Gizachew Teshome - 08 - Musherete (5:13)

Either/Orchestra - Live at Berklee [usa+eth]

Founded in 1985 by saxophonist & composer Russ Gershon, the ten-piece Either/Orchestra, based in Somerville MA, is one of the jazz world's most long-lived and distinguished groups.  Alumni include jazz stars such as John Medeski, Matt Wilson, Miguel Zenon, Jaleel Shaw & Josh Roseman.

The E/O, featuring a six piece horn section, piano, bass, drums and congas, has put its stamp on just about every style of jazz, from big band, swing and bop to Latin jazz, electric and avant-garde.  The last decade or more has found the band absorbing an Afro-Caribbean influence through a succession of Latino members.  

Teshome Mitiku with Either/Orchestra

More unusually, the E/O has become deeply involved with Ethiopian music, touring there and collaborating with many Ethiopian greats of the outstanding 1960's generation.  Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Teshome Mitiku are among the band's favorites.  The Ethiopian connection includes the double CD Ethiopíques 20: Live in Addis and the DVD Ethiogroove: Mahmoud Ahmed and Either/Orchestra.

Over the years, the E/O has been recognized with five Boston Music Awards, perennial placement in the Big Band category of the Down Beat International Critics Poll, and leader Gershon was nominated for an arranging Grammy for his composition "Bennie Moten's Weird Nightmare," included in The Calculus of Pleasure.

The E/O began performing original arrangements of Ethiopian songs, inspired by a compilation called Ethiopian Groove: the Golden 70s. In 2000, after three of these songs appeared on the album More Beautiful than Death, Francis Falceto, the producer of Ethiopian Groove, contacted Gershon and eventually arranged an invitation for the E/O to play at the Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa in 2004. 

Along with Indo-British singer Susheela Raman the same year, the E/O was the first non-Ethiopian artist to appear in the festival, and was the first US big band to appear in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington's in 1973. Their concert at the festival was recorded and ultimately appeared in Falceto's Ethiopiques series on the French Buda Musique label. Five Ethiopian guests appear on the recording: Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekurya, Tsedenia Markos, Bahta Hewet and Michael Belayneh. This tour and recording have led to an ongoing collaboration with Astatke, the primary founder of Ethiopian jazz, concerts with Ethiopian expatriates singer Hana Shenkute, krar player Minale Dagnew, masinko player Setegn Atanaw, and the great Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed with whom E/O released a DVD in 2007. 

Mahmoud Ahmed and fellow legendary Ethiopian singer Alemayehu Eshete played Lincoln Center Out of Doors in 2008 backed by E/O. The group debuted a collaboration with vocalist Teshome Mitiku in the summer of 2010, including a headlining appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival.

Either Orchestra - 01 - Introduction (3:03)
Either Orchestra - 02 - Tigrigna,Oromigna,Guragigna (14:06)
Either Orchestra - 03 - Arehibi (9:34)
Either Orchestra - 04 - Ethiopia (5:20)
Either Orchestra - 05 - Yamnaw Bedele (6:55)
Either Orchestra - 06 - Yeqir Beqa (6:07)



guests :

Minnale Danew - krar
Setegn Atanaw - masinko
Hana Shenkute - vocal

Damakase - Gunfan Yellem! [2016] [ethiopia]

       Endris Hassen (The Ex, Ethiocolor, Imperial Tiger Orchestra, Nile Project, MistO-MistO etc) and Cory Seznec (Groanbox, Seznec Bros, solo, MistO-MistO, etc) joined forces in late 2014 to fuse sounds from east and west Africa. Hungry for a fuller sound, they brought in Misale Legesse (Ethiocolor, Addis Acoustic Project, etc) on kebero and Cass Horsfall on bass (Black Jesus Experience, Jazmaris, etc) to flesh things out and create Damakase, a name which comes from a plant used in traditional medicine in Ethiopia to heal "gunfan" (cold/flu) and other ailments. 

       By late 2015 they had enough songs for an album, and asked Kenny Allen to come in as producer. 

       Gunfan Yellem! (translated roughly as Fever No More!) is an album recorded live in Cory's Glasshouse Studios. 

      Guest artists were invited to add a little spice here and there, and Kenny fine tuned and tweaked the mix to perfection. 

      The music is comprised of 6 originals and two covers (Wuba by the Eritrean composer Tewelde Redda, and Mother's Love by the Ethiopian pianist Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou).

Damakase - Tizita Gourd

Damakase - 01 - Wuba (4:09)

Damakase - 02 - Tizita Gourd (4:20)

Damakase - 03 - Wassorai Asho Mada (4:21)

Damakase - 04 - Mother's Love (4:27)

Damakase - 05 - Batten Down the Hatches (4:01)

Damakase - 06 - Southern Bound (5:18)

Damakase - 07 - Tizu Konjo Wusha (3:16)

Damakase - 08 - Damakase (3:29)

Damakase is: 

Cass Horsfall - bass, vocals 

Cory Seznec - guitars, ngoni, banjos, vocals 

Endris Hassen - masenqo, vocals 

Misale Legesse - kebero, percussion, vocals 

Guests: 

Kaethe Hostetter - violin 

Mesele Asmamaw - krar 

Mesfin "Baby" Shiferaw - vocals 

Ralf Werner - cello 

Yann Seznec - piano, pump organ

Shewankochew, Shibabaw, Egziabher - Love songs from Ethiopia [1997]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

   Christian Ethiopians living in the central north: the Tigre, Amhara, Gojjam, Begemdir and Simen, and the Shewa; the rest of the country, the plateau to the south, is occupied by the Galla tribes. The western frontiers of the country are populated by the Shanqella, the east is dominated by Moslem peoples (the Danakil, Issa and Somali), and the south by various populations regrouped under the term Gurage.

   The musical traditions of Ethiopia reflect this diversity: Christian religious music, sung and danced by priests accompanied by drums and sistrums; the Jewish religious music of the Beta Israel ; the secular music of the Amhara and Tigre Christians; the religious and secular music of the Galla Moslems; and the innumerable vocal and instrumental forms of the southern populations. These traditions are not isolated, and they have tended to mutually influence each other.

   Parallel to the classical poetry which sung at court or in the halls of the lords, a more colorful tradition developed, namely that of the azmari minstrels. This poetry in a more simple style is sung in Amharic or in Tigre.
The verses, often improvised or suggested by others, in which may be found abundance of metaphors and double meaning, but also irony and sarcasm, are most often accompanied on the masinqo bowed lute.

   The voice, used in service to the texts, is displayed over a relatively wide range. Ornamentation and vibrato, voice timbre which becomes brassy in dramatic moments, the use of pentatonic scales: all these techniques clearly illustrate the relationship of this music to the Nilotic world. In addition, a strong and very ancient influence of Arabic culture is detectable, especially obvious in the occurrence of non-tempered intervals.

                        Fantahun Shewankochew - vocals and krar lyra

                        Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw - vocals

                        Wores G. Egziabher - masinqo bowed lute & vocals

                                             

  front cover

                                              

back cover

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Ketema Mekonnen - Ketema 70's [ethiopia]

Ketema Mekonnen - Tizita

Ketema Mekonnen - 01 - Ambasel [with Massinko] (3:38)

Ketema Mekonnen - 02 - Ambasel [with Kirar] (4:40)

Ketema Mekonnen - 03 - Arada (3:28)

Ketema Mekonnen - 04 - Bati (2:53)

Ketema Mekonnen - 05 - Bemela Besebeb (3:09)

Ketema Mekonnen - 06 - Derbaba (3:21)

Ketema Mekonnen - 07 - Endegena (3:05)

Ketema Mekonnen - 08 - Ene Eshaleshalehu (2:40)

Ketema Mekonnen - 09 - Ere Endemin Alesh (1:05)

Ketema Mekonnen - 10 - Gedaye Gedaye (3:25)

Ketema Mekonnen - 11 - Layne Rakshebigne (3:23)

Ketema Mekonnen - 12 - Shemonmoanaye Wa (3:41)

Ketema Mekonnen - 13 - Tey Geday (3:17)

Ketema Mekonnen - 14 - Tizita [with Acordion] (3:54)

Ketema Mekonnen - 15 - Tizita [with Kirar] (3:18)

Ketema Mekonnen - 16 - Tizita [with Massinko] (6:43)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - Wo Tnekatna [2016] [ethiopia]

Endalkachew Yenehun - Abay Mado

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 01 - Balageru Belugn (4:35)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 02 - Wa Tenekatena (5:35)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 03 - Gojjam (4:22)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 04 - Abay Mado (5:15)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 05 - Yeabesha Lij Negn (5:44)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 06 - Tegwaze Tegwaze (5:43)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 07 - Yalefew Amet (8:09)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 08 - Ethiopian Annd Yaderege (6:19)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 09 - Menjar (6:04)

Endalkachew Yeneahun - 10 - Woyne (5:24)

Enana Dubale - Cora Cora [2000] [ethiopia]

       Singer Enana Dubale was born in Gonder region. She descended from a family that has a line of famous traditional singer who took music seriously as a profession. Enana joined the proud family tradition early in singing cultural Amharic songs accompanied by a male “Masinko” (a string instrument resembling cello) player. She was doing this entertainment business moving from one refreshment spot to the other. Although the experience is hard there is no doubt that through the process she acquired as excellent voice control develop an ability of having a deeper breath.

       Enana is one of the groups of five singers collectively known by their mothers name “Ergoye” consisting of her their 3 sisters and a brother.

      This group of five came to the notice of the larger due to an album released under the name “Ergoyewoch”.

    She became well known by the public due to the song “Chir Sil Alwedim” and later her other individual album “Cora Cora” was a hit that definatly placed her among the best known young talents.

Enana Dubale - Almaze

            
            Enana Dubale, the member of the famous Ethiopian singers ` The Dubale families`` A.k.a " the five Ergoyes" died in august 2014.  

             Known for her collaboration with Artist Abebe Befekadu in the traditional song “Gomlalaye”, Enana has been receiving treatment at a hospital in Addis before she passed away. Sources said, the late Enana was working on her new album. The 35 years old Enana Dubale released a total of five albums including collaboration with her family members. Enana is survived by her three kids.

Enana Dubale - 01 - Gojam Yegenagnale (4:02)

Enana Dubale - 02 - Kebiraraw Gondere (5:59)

Enana Dubale - 03 - Ahun Ahunima (4:44)

Enana Dubale - 04 - Hedkulih (5:15)

Enana Dubale - 05 - Cora Cora (4:22)

Enana Dubale - 06 - Almaze Atebelegn Dar Dar (4:40)

Enana Dubale - 07 - Atebelegn Dar Dar (5:07)

Enana Dubale - 08 - Hulem Na (6:42)

Enana Dubale - 09 - Sewedih Wededuh (5:14)

Enana Dubale - 10 - Siwer Sew (4:24)

Enana Dubale - 11 - Enes Bagere (5:42)

Damtew Ayele - Welo [ethiopia]

Damtew Ayele - Endew Tinbualel

Damtew Ayele - 01 - Welo (4:36)
Damtew Ayele - 02 - Gomlele (5:05)
Damtew Ayele - 03 - Eyerusalem (5:12)
Damtew Ayele - 04 - Korkurew Fersu (5:30)
Damtew Ayele - 05 - Dera Meru (7:53)
Damtew Ayele - 06 - Hagerewa Menjar (6:46)
Damtew Ayele - 07 - Keawedemaw (6:44)
Damtew Ayele - 08 - Enate Nabeyneh (5:10)
Damtew Ayele - 09 - Menale Gojam (5:48)
Damtew Ayele - 10 - Belay Endegena (7:32)