Marc Teissier du Cros, one half of the brains behind Paris label The Record Makers, home to some of Paris’ strongest music acts the likes of Sébastien Tellier lent his talents this past July to summer festival Les Siestes Electroniques.
Mining the music archive of the Left Bank’s Musée du Quai Branly, Teissier du Cros complies Ethiopia! an Ethio Jazz & modern music mixtape featuring some of the genres biggest names Mahmoud Ahmed, Bahta Gebre-Heywet, Tilahoun Gessesse, Mulatu Astatke, Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed and more.
Without a doubt the inclusion of tracks like ‘Tezeta’ by Mahmoud Ahmed makes this mixtape tug hard on nostalgic strings for any listener familiar with the Addis Ababa music scene of the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s.
Marc tells that he delved into the genre when music label Buda Musique began releasing the ‘Ethiopiques‘ series curated by Francis Falceto in the late 90′s. A fan of Pharaoh Sanders in his student days, he mentions that "listening to Ethiopian music was like discovering where Pharoah Sanders found some of his inspiration from. Ethiopia was the heartbeat of the American free jazz scene of the late 60′s, Coltrane, Pharoah! A bit the same way seeing Fela Kuti live in Lagos gave James Brown enough guts to move from soul to funk music.”
When the Ibex Band disbanded in 1979, three of its members – Selam Seyoum, Giovanni Rico and Fekadu Amdemeskel – joined with Dawit Yifru, keyboard player for the also recently disbanded Dahlak Band, to form the now-legendary Roha Band.
Specializing in modern Ethiopian music with a traditional blend, the band’s first contract was with the Addis Ababa Hilton, where they performed together six days a week, perfecting their signature sound. The Roha Band traveled extensively, in Ethiopia and abroad, and performed on Ethiopian television. They made over 250 recordings with a multitude of celebrated Ethiopian singers, including Aster Aweke, Tilahun Gessesse, Mahmoud Ahmed, Muluken Mellesse, Theodros Tadesse, Hamelmal Abate and Neway Debebe. Although the band broke up in 1994, with the members pursuing individual interests, no other Ethiopian group has matched the number or quality of their recordings.
The Ibex band-of Ere Mela Mela fame-was renamed Roha band and along with Ethio Stars and Wallias Band,they became the leading bands of the time.
Roha has produced over the years 250 recordings with all the stellar Ethiopian singers: Aster Aweke,Tilahun Gesesse, Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete.
Recorded during their first North American tour,this album introduced singers Neway Debebe,Hamelmal Abate,and Berhane Haile to the States and the large Ethiopian community there.
All hits compilation of late 1960s to early 1970s Ethiopian soul and R 'n' B. Very intensely groove oriented material by some of Ethiopia's top musicians. Includes songs by Mulatu Astatke, Seyfou Yohannes, Ayelew Mesfin, Getatchew Kassa, and the mighty Abbebe Tessemma. Nonstop party. Old school 'tip on' sleeve.
Class side of Ethio R&B hits dating to late ’60s and early ’70s. It comes out of the blocks hard with Astatke’s Assiyo Bellema and Tessemma’s Ashasha Beyew both boasting irresistible polyrhythmic grooves, the former bouncing along with queasy steel drum details, while the latter is driven by organ chords and lovely bright brass.
While other highlights come courtesy of Yohannes’ lounge jazz-inflected Yekermo Sew with smooth sax, bubbling guitar work and a fascinating cyclic piano line, Mesfin’s bouncy funk-soaked Lene Antchi Bitcha Nesh and the irresistible polyrhythmic call-and-response simplicity of Damtew Ayele’s ‘Wefe Yelala’, the whole LP is a delight, although with these warm exotic shuffle grooves it feels like more of a soiree than a party.
01. Mulatu Astatque - Assiyo Bellema (2:54)
02. Abbebe Tessemma - Ashasha Beyew (3:36)
03. Getatchew Kassa & Soul Ekos Band - Bey Lesnabetesh (4:03)
Live at " Fiest'A Sete" (Théätre de la Mer, Sete, France), on the 5th of August 2008.
Despite a 1948 Imperial edict banning the distribution of Ethiopian pop music, Amha Eshete launched a record label,Amha Records, and released 103 singles and a dozen albums by Ethiopian artists between 1969 and 1975. In addition to making Ethiopian music known throughout the world, Eshete helped to spark a modern period of creativity in his homeland. During an interview in the early-1990s, Eshete said, "I had a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do. I took the risk.". The governmental resistance against Eshete's efforts proved ultimately insurmountable. By the mid-1990s, Eshete had emigrated to the United States.
Quantic is an umbrella name for UK-born, Will Holland : acclaimed producer, musician, and DJ for over 15 years, who’s projects incorporate various influences, from funk & jazz to electronic & folk music, to Latin, reggae, dub and cumbia.
He recently put together this mix of rare 45s he found in Ethiopia, calling it ”a mix of folkloric and outer-regional music of Ethiopia, all 45s and some records that I think need to be heard. Less of breaks & wah wah and this time more of krar, claps, howling sounds and organ melodies. For fans of previous mixes Axum to Addis and Addis Sheckla Explosion.”
Listen to and download the whole mix by clicking on the link below, and let’s he hope he continues the crate digging!
This live recording documents the brief period around our second trip to East Africa in Winter 2010, a journey that took our Ethio-groove collective across the world to share our interpretations of 1970s-era brass band-style Ethiopian funk. During this time we played a five-part hometown residency, a cosmopolitan Addis Ababa nightclub, and one of the largest music festivals in Africa. Along the way, we once again collaborated with dear friends and outstanding traditional artists: Melaku Belay and his group Fendika.
The flamingo is a majestic bird that thrives in the volcanic lake regions of East Africa's Great Rift Valley. Like many African animals, mystery and myths surround the origins of this long-necked pink bird. Our "flamingoh" is no exception: Flaming feathers (re)birthed from a breaking dawn. A dawn that rips open the sky.
The four tracks offered here are just the beginning: we have a documentary, featuring our escapades with Fendika, and a full-length live album on the way. This is our dawn: goh qeddede.
released 04 September 2010 Bruck Tesfaye - vocals Stacey Cordeiro - accordion Kaethe Hostetter- five-string violin Jonah Rapino - electric violin Danny Mekonnen - tenor and baritone saxophones Abye Osman - alto saxophone David Harris- trombone Brendon Wood - guitar Arik Grier - sousaphone PJ Goodwin - electric bass Keith Waters - drums guests Selamnesh Zemene - vocals Asrat Ayalew- kebero (traditional drums)
1. Debo Band - Musicawi Silt [Girma Beyene] (6:02)
2. Debo Band - Belomi Benna [Abrar Abde/Mahmoud Ahmed] (4:40)
3. Debo Band - Mignoten Man Yawkal [Seyfu H. Mariam/Tezera H. Miuchael] (4:06)
Blind Ethiopian vocalist Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed, influenced by the legendary vocalist Tlahoun Gessesse (heard on the Ethiopiques CD series), has been a legend in Ethiopia for many years, mostly singing Gessesse's songs. Incredibly this is his first proper full length CD, which The Ex and Han Bennink made possible after hearing Mohammed perform in Europe and Ethiopian; so impressed were they that they made these recordings possible.
Han Bennink plays on several tracks, as does Zu bassist Massimo, Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, alongside Mohammed's frequent collaborator Mesele Asmamaw on krar, a kind of 5-string harp. But above all this release is fueled by Mohammed's clear and powerful voice, making this intricate and ecstatic music so impressive and passionate.
1. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Sethed Seketelat (5:26)
2. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Mela Mela (5:07)
3. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Eywat Setenategagn (5:08)
4. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Antchin Keto (6:26)
5. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Hulgizey (6:13)
6. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Yaselamo Lalo (8:02)
7. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Ende Jerusalem (10:40)
8. Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Sevetchi Men Yilala (26:50)
Walias Band (sometimes spelled Wallias Band) were an Ethiopian Jazz and funk band active from the early 1970s until the early 1990s. Formed by members of the Venus Band, Walias backed up many prominent singers with a hard polyrhythmic funk sound influenced by western artists like King Curtis, Junior Walker and Maceo Parker.
In 1977 they recorded one of the few albums of Ethiopian instrumental music (Hailu Mergia and The Walias Band – Tche Belew)in collaboration with vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke, whose role as a bandleader and composer was also a major influence on Ethiopian popular music.
In 1981 Walias became the first modern Ethiopian band to travel to the United States, playing on a tour with singer Mahmoud Ahmed primarily to audiences of Ethiopian refugees.
Four members Girma Bèyènè, Mogès Habté, Mèlakè Gèbrè and Haylu Mergia stayed in the U.S. and formed a new group called Zula Band in favor of returning to live in Ethiopia under its dictatorship.
Mergia took work in Washington DC driving a taxi cab and released solo cassette tapes of traditional Ethiopian music played on analog synthesizer, electric piano and accordion.The remaining members, Yohannes Tèkola and Tèmarè Harègou,continued to play together under the Derg dictatorship for another decade.
In the late 1990s Walias Band found a wider audience in the west when the French label Buda Records reissued much of the group's music on the Ethiopiques series of compact discs. Their instrumental, "Musicawi Silt", became a popular dance number and has been covered by a number of artists.
The Walias Band's name derives from the walia ibex, an endangered species of the Capra genus native to the mountains of Ethiopia. They share no members with the similarly named Ibex Band who also backed up Mahmoud Ahmed during the same epoch.
1.Walias Band - Malada [Woubishet Fisseha] (5:11) 2.Walias Band - Kalatashew Akal (2:35) 3.Walias Band - Tizzita [Getachew Kassa] (10:25) 4.Walias Band - Ashkaru [Mahmoud Ahmed] (3:06) 5.Walias Band - Ye Kereme Fikir [Getachew Kassa] (4:47) 6.Walias Band - Inchi Libbe Echo Naw [Mahmoud Ahmed] (6:32) 7.Walias Band - Eyuwat Sitnafikagn (3:41) 8.Walias Band - Wa Hoyye [Woubishet Fisseha] (5:13)