Kibrom Birhane - Kibrom's Tizita [2014] [ethiopia]

visit his website here >  http://www.kibromusika.com/

             Kibrom Birhane is Ethiopian Pianist, Multi Instrumentalist / producer / songwriter / Record / Mix engineer, arranger and composer passionate about Ethiopian folk, world, pop, jazz and gospel music. 

                 Kibrom started his musical career in a very early stage of his life, and had the opportunity to work, perform and record with musicians from all over the world. While attending Los Angeles College of music, he was fortunate to learn under great musicians such as: Sean Halley (Vinnie Colaiuta, Jerry Marotta, Richard Marx), Andre Knecht, Andrew Murdock (Godsmack, Alice Cooper, Linkin Park), Dave Pozzi (Celine Dion, Diana Krall), Howie Shear (George Benson, Stevie Wonder), Tony Inzalaco (Oscar Peterson, Dexter Gordon) and many others.

Kibrom Birhane - Zelesegna  ዘለሰኛ

           Learning how to play the krar, a five stringed traditional Ethiopian lyre, at age 8, Kibrom Birhane found himself enthralled by Orthodox chanting. “Always it moves me when I hear music,” he says. And from that time on he knew he wanted to pursue a career in music. Kibrom eventually began teaching piano to other students for about three years before receiving a scholarship to attend the Los Angeles College of Music where he developed a passion beyond Ethiopian folk music, and became a songwriter and composer focusing on the fusion of Ethiopian folk with jazz and gospel sounds. His debut album entitled ‘Kibrom’s Tizita’ was recently released by Tsehai Records, a new division of Tsehai Publishers. Kibrom describes his new album as “an exploration of Ethiopian heritage through folk and pop music with a jazz backbone.”

           Kibrom is also a record and mixing engineer and says he “learned to play all of these different roles over time, and with that came new innovations” in his music and sound. His solo pieces are among his most personal works, and Kibrom shares that they are “an expression of what I feel at the moment. I don’t study or learn solos; I just play them.”

           Kibrom hopes to reach the younger generation with his music. He sees the power of fusion as a way to expose individuals to Ethiopian music while adopting a style that is already familiar to them (such as jazz). Kibrom has already garnered some success including writing the score for the documentary film ‘Sincerely Ethiopia,’ singing in the award-winning documentary ‘Get Together Girls,’ and composing music for the documentary on the African Union’s 50th year celebration.

     “The raw sincerity of Birhane’s music seeks to make strong connections with listeners as they are transported on a musical journey. And a journey it is – Kibrom uses Ethiopian scales, which are rarely heard in Western music. The distinct nature of these scales makes for hypnotic listening,” states Tsehai Records.

Kibrom Birhane - 01 - Pending Prayer (4:06)

Kibrom Birhane - 02 - Yonas Gorfe Tribute (5:10)

Kibrom Birhane - 03 - Simagne Hageree (4:25)

Kibrom Birhane - 04 - Wazema (5:26)

Kibrom Birhane - 05 - Broken but Beautiful (10:06)

Kibrom Birhane - 06 - Jiret (7:02)

Kibrom Birhane - 07 - Psalm 92 (4:47)

Kibrom Birhane - 08 - Kibrom's Tizita (feat. Etsegenet Mekonnen) (5:03)

Kibrom Birhane - 09 - Zelesegna (4:30)

Kibrom Birhane - 10 - Ambassel (feat. Etsegenet Mekonnen) (4:34)

Daniel Woldegabriel - Yenie Alem [2009] [ethiopia]

Daniel W-Gabriel - Awasa langano-Hirutye

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 01. Oouta Ayaskefam (5:31)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 02. Yebelay Negnna (7:24)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 03. Alamen Alena (6:30)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 04. Batty (4:06)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 05. Mot Adeladlogn (5:42)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 06. Amalealea (5:13)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 07. Kelealeh Yelehea (4:15)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 08. Fikren Atawat (4:03)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 09. Mengedegnanew Libesh (6:34)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 10. Jemayea (6:19)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 11. Hulum Awko Endenor (5:36)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 12. Agul Tekoragntogn (7:18)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 13. Musica (4:32)

Daniel WoldeGabriel - 14. Fikreahoy Temekeree (4:38)

Elias Negash - Jazzed Up [2012] [ethiopia]

       Elias Negash is an accomplished musician who has combined his Native Ethiopian music with his jazz education, and influences from the world music segment. He played through the seventies and became one of the pioneering figures to have brought Reggae and African music to the Bay Area with smash hit groups including Obeah, Axum, Caribbean All Stars and the Rastafarians. 

      After moving to Los Angeles Elias worked on the Royal Princess Cruise ship out of South Hampton England for four months. He has also done soundtrack for Television Movie in titled Glitz and also preformed on a TV series Murder She Wrote. Elias has also traveled as a Solo pianist and with Magyk Band to Japan.

Elias Negash - Belew Bedubaye

In addition to his role as a musician, Elias dedicates his time in multiple humanitarian efforts such as fundraising HIV Aids research and treatment, building schools and water-well in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Further, Elias is currently the president of Ethiopian Arts forum that strives to accomplish its objectives through the presentation of Ethiopian Music, Dance, Poetry, Drama and Visual Arts to the community.

Elias has put out five solo CDs titled Love, Harrambe (lets pull together), Peace, Feel Like Dancin’ and his new CD titled “JAZZED UP”

01 - Elias Negash - Perfect Ten (6:02)

02 - Elias Negash - I Lied to You (7:10)

03 - Elias Negash - Sway (8:29)

04 - Elias Negash - Antchim Endelela (5:26)

05 - Elias Negash - Memories Overwhelmed Him (4:52)

06 - Elias Negash - I Dare You (5:39)

07 - Elias Negash - No Women No Cry (6:15)

08 - Elias Negash - Tizeta Garedew (5:01)

09 - Elias Negash - Crazy (4:32)

10 - Elias Negash - Our Love Is Here to Stay (7:20)

11 - Elias Negash - Harlem Nocturne (5:34)

12 - Elias Negash - Elias Salsa (4:54)

13 - Elias Negash - Addis Ababa Bete (7:44)

Teddy Mak - [2004] - Truth [ethiopia]

           Teddy Mak has been a composer, arranger, producer, songwriter, and an accomplished performer for over twenty eight years. He is one of the pioneer, performer and major contributor to the development of Ethiopia's innovative 'new age' music. Teddy Mak developed a passion formusic in German school addis abeba at an early age of eight, which was accompanied with hours of rigorous practice on the piano at home. Teddy’s youthful talent was enthusiastically supported by his father, Teddy's family provided an enabling environment that encouraged young Teddy to put in enough hours of practice on the piano which laid a firm foundation for his life’s work in Ethiopian music. 

            Teddy Mak first studied music at the Yared Music School in Addis Ababa, which was followed by studying music, majoring in American Jazz, at the Northern Virginia Community College. He had his chance playing with great bands, which included, among others, the Shebelles, the Dahlacs and the Ethiostar band in Addis Ababa. This was the time when Teddy Mak got a chance to meet and perform with Bob Marley at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa.

               Throughout his career, he has compiled and created numerous melodic sounds and rhythmical beats that have made his musical compositions distinguishable. His masterful compilations have been soothing the ears of a broad range of listeners, for the past 3- decades. 

      Teddy Mak’s musical accomplishments include over 573 arrangments and musical compositions, a cultural musical presentation, in the presence of delegates from fifty countries, at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Addis Ababa, composed sound tracks for twenty five documentary films and, wrote original soundtrack for a fifty-four segment Ethiopian movie drama series “Gemena” for Ethiopian TV. 

Teddy Mak has presented a commissioned musical presentation and album on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the African Union.

01 - Teddy Mak - Young At Heart (4:26)

02 - Teddy Mak - Truth (6:11)

03 - Teddy Mak - Joy (4:44)

04 - Teddy Mak - Lanchi (6:49)

05 - Teddy Mak - Pure Ethiopian (5:47)

06 - Teddy Mak - T. Woman (6:31)

07 - Teddy Mak - Mak (5:54)

08 - Teddy Mak - Abogidah (5:19)

09 - Teddy Mak - Wushetenew (5:38)

10 - Teddy Mak - Ethio House (5:10)

11 - Teddy Mak - Teddy's Mood (6:54)

PRESS : 

“God must have dedicated more time on your creative and restless visionary mind. Vahag Sakadjian or ( Vaggie ) 06-17-2008 ”

VAGGIE - MUSIC PAD

“Every song you play turn out to be " sparkling , shiny , touchy , groovy. Vahag Sakadjian or ( Vaggie ) 06-17-2008   ”

VAGGIE - MUSIC PAD

“Teddy Mak's Timeout is a direct expression of human emotions that transcend the listener to the beyond â€" it is in a way a form of art and entertainment”

B,T,COSTENTINOS PHD - KOSTE

“The MUSICAL gift upon Teddy Maks talent , I have noticed , tested ,smelled and watched the changes of forms ,and fantasy since we were kids. All I can say is , " he still amazes me."”

VEHAG

Mulatu Astatke - [2009] - New York-Addis-London - The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 [FLAC] [ethiopia]

Mulatu Astatke - New York-Addis-London [Full Album]

       Ethio jazz. That's what Mulatu Astatke called his style of music when he invented it back in the 1960s, and it means exactly what it implies: Ethiopian melodies played on Western instruments with room for improvisation. Astatke was a pioneer for his country's modern music. His concept of instrumental music as an end in itself was a bit foreign in his homeland, where singers rule the popular music sphere, and he was among the very first musicians from Ethiopia to learn about music while abroad. He started playing as a teenager at school in Wales, and after a stint at London's Trinity School of Music, he jumped the Atlantic for a brief stay at Boston's Berklee College of Music, ultimately winding up in New York City in the mid-60s. There, he was exposed to sounds he simply couldn't have heard back home in Addis Ababa, and his exposure to jazz and Western harmonic concepts led him to formulate Ethio jazz, the perfect hybrid of the traditional and the modern.

         His first attempts to forge his new genre occurred in the U.S., and his band members were mostly Puerto Rican. You can tell by listening, too. The several tracks here lifted from his two Afro Latin Soul LPs bear a strong stamp of boogaloo, Latin jazz, and other Americo-Caribbean forms. When he returned to Ethiopia, he arrived at a time when the country was opening up as never before, and Addis Ababa was as cosmopolitan as cities came, boiling with cultural restlessness that fed a vibrant nightlife. Recording resources were limited, but in 1969, Mulatu began cutting tracks for Amha Eshèté's Amha, the first independent label ever established in the country. He worked primarily as an arranger, but frequently wrote and recorded instrumentals to serve as B-sides for vocal songs, some of which are being issued here for the first time outside Ethiopia.

       Astatke brought a unique skill set back to Addis with him, where he was able to employ musicians who'd grown up with the music he was so consciously modernizing. The resulting music is simply brilliant, fresh even decades later. The way Mulatu harmonized horns, combining pentatonic Ethiopian melody with Western chord concepts, sounds like no one else-- the music seems both ancient and modern at once, befitting the mixture of raw ingredients. This compilation is utterly intoxicating from the first note to the last-- preternaturally funky, haunting, complex, memorable, exciting, and unique, Ethio jazz easily transcends the era in which it was made.

       "Mulatu", from his 1972 LP Mulatu of Ethiopia, recorded in New York with members of Mongo Santamaria's band during a visit to the States, is a brilliant signature track, a darkly funky tune with a hint of Caribbean shuffle, snaking sax solos, Mulatu's own cloudy vibraphone, and a bit of wah-pedaled Wurlitzer. The stately, smoky "Netsanet" is drawn from 1974's Yekatit: Ethio Jazz LP, the very first Ethiopian LP to be conceived as an album in advance (as opposed to a collection of 45 sides). Like the other songs from that album, it has a weighty solemnity to it that betrays the difficult revolutionary period during which it was recorded. My favorite Mulatu track, "Ené Alantchie Alnorem", was previously featured on Buda Musique's Ethiopiques Volume 4 compilation, and it still kills here. It is a song without a solid core: its fluttering electric piano, flute, and drums spin in an ethereal wash, held together by wind sound effects and a heavy sonority, and the descending piano line that outlines the chords feels like it's falling and catching itself on each beat.

       A handful of vocal tracks dot the compilation, and they're all outstanding as well. "Ebo Lala" features Seifu Yohannes putting on his best Bollywood-inspired show, huffing and puffing over a heavy Latin beat and blasting horn section. "Wubit", featuring Muluken Melesse, has a cool, funky crime jazz strut, a sick breakdown, and a quintessentially Ethiopian melismatic vocal-- that this song has remained hidden from all but a few collectors in Ethiopia until now is almost criminal. Even Mulatu's very first foray into recording, the Latin-tinged instrumental "Shagu", bears his unmistakable signature, playing its cycling piano riff two octaves lower than in most Latin music and featuring a dark, mysterious vibraphone lead playing between Ethiopian pentatonics and modal concepts nicked from post-bop jazz.

Mulatu Astatke - Yefikir Tizita

       Ethio jazz was never a commercial success in Ethiopia. That Ahma and Philips Ethiopia even saw fit to release any of it is a credit to their commitment to art over commerce, and even today it remains little-heard in its homeland. But Mulatu was a master craftsman and one of the most supremely inventive composers of a time when an awful lot of creative music was being made around the world. He's still going today, guesting on radio shows and teaching in Addis, and he released a great album with London's the Heliocentrics as his backing band earlier this year. But even if he'd disappeared after 1975, his legacy would be sealed.

by Joe Tangari

Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Kimsha [Ethiopia]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

   Cruising over the Soulseek, the best P2P program sometimes gives unexpected results. 

     This album I get by one of my SLSK mate. Besides the name of the author, and the title of album and songs (which I can't verify), I have no more info.

    The only portion of information says that Tsehay Teklehaimanot is After Hours Jazz Sextet with Party Singers.

      Smooth and easy listening music, kind of jazz in an ethiopian way. Enjoy, and write to me, if you know something more about this beautiful record.

01. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Algebagnim Ene Meskerem Siteba (6:51)
02. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Yene fikir Hulet (5:21)
03. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Endiyaw Zerafewa (6:50)
04. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Shegiye, Bertukane (5:54)
05. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Kanchi Beker Lela (6:01)
06. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Enkuan Kome (4:43)
07. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Endih New Gabicha (6:29)
08. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Yishalishal (5:16)
09. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Balegariw (6:15)
10. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Mushiraye (5:07)
11. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Yared Muzika Temehert Bet (5:02)
12. Tsehay Teklehaimanot - Kalatashiw Akal (3:52)

Daniel W/Gabriel - Wube [1990] [ethiopia]

                   

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

01. Daniel W/Gabriel - Almaze (7:14)
02. Daniel W/Gabriel - Ye-Enat Wuletawa (8:09)
03. Daniel W/Gabriel - Ayenishin Ayiche (4:51)
04. Daniel W/Gabriel - Belet Kedame (5:05)
05. Daniel W/Gabriel - Yiberdatal Bileh (4:03)
06. Daniel W/Gabriel - Lenerebet/Ehedaleu Hagere (9:18)
07. Daniel W/Gabriel - Ines Wusheten-New (3:53)
08. Daniel W/Gabriel - Helm-Elem (4:41)
09. Daniel W/Gabriel - Yiwodehal (7:46)
10. Daniel W/Gabriel - Lidgemer Chewata (5:27)
11. Daniel W/Gabriel - Eshururu (12:18)

Mulatu Astatke – Sketches of Ethiopia [2013] [ethiopia]

  R  E  U  P  L  O  A  D  

         Sketches of Ethiopia is, extraordinarily, the first album Mulatu Astatke, the godfather of Ethio-jazz, has recorded with his own band for an international label of influence. It has been a long time coming and it is a corker.

         Astatke, on vibraphone and keyboards, is accompanied by his regular touring band, Step Ahead, which has at its core A-list British jazz musicians—among them, trumpeter Byron Wallen, drummer Tom Skinner, 

bassist John Edwards and reed player James Arden. Step Ahead’s 12-piece line-up also includes players of traditional Ethiopian instruments including the masinko (one-string lute), krar (lyre) and washint (bamboo flute). 

      In addition, there are half a dozen guest musicians, who include rising Malian vocalist Fatoumata Diawara, who sings on the final track.

          The album, a mix of originals and arrangements of traditional Ethiopian tunes, is generally hotter and more urgent than you would expect from Astatke’s classic early 1970s recordings. That vibe is revisited on two tracks: “Gumuz,” a traditional melody given a laid back, West Coast jazz-funk arrangement, and Astatke’s “Motherland Abay,” a showcase for the Ethiopian instruments. Elsewhere the album reflects Step Ahead’s up-tempo, dance-friendly live approach. The material is largely through-written and the emphasis is on the ensemble, as always with Astatke: composer/arrangers Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn were prominent among his formative jazz influences.


           Born in 1943, Astatke studied in Britain and the US in the 1960s. He returned to Ethiopia towards the end of the decade, in the dog days of Haile Selassie’s imperial rule. State control of the music business was weakening and a handful of enthusiasts were setting up independent labels which the expiring regime lacked the energy to close down. But the audience for Astatke’s music was small, for Ethiopia had no broad tradition of instrumental music. In 1974 a military junta, the Derg, ousted Selassie and seized power. Under the Derg, Ethiopia’s fledgling music business was suppressed.


          Internationally, Astatke’s fortunes improved in the late 1990s, when the Paris-based label Buda Musique launched its Ethiopiques reissue series. Volume four, Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale 1969—1974, released in 1998, comprised album tracks and singles recorded by Astatke either under his own name or as arranger/bandleader. 

        People began to pick up on Ethio-jazz, among them US movie director Jim Jarmusch, who featured Astatke’s 1970s recordings prominently on the soundtrack of Broken Flowers (2005). In the film’s wake, Astatke toured and recorded with the Heliocentrics and Either/Orchestra. 


        In 2010, Mochilla released Timeless, recorded in concert in the US with leading local players.


        Sketches of Ethiopia is essentially Astatke and Step Ahead’s live set performed in the studio by an expanded line-up. It makes the transition with resounding success.


Personnel: 

Step Ahead: 

Mulatu Astatke: vibraphone, piano, keyboards; 
Yohanes Afwork: washint; 
James Arben: flute, oboe, tenor saxophone, clarinet; 
Messale Asmamow: krar; 
Richard Olatunde Baker: percussion; 
John Edwards: double bass, bass; 
Indris Hassun: masinko; 
Alexander Hawkins: piano, keyboards; 
Danny Keane: keyboards, cello; 
Tom Skinner: drums; 
Tesfaye: lead vocals (2, 4, 6); 
Byron Wallen: trumpet. 


Guests: 

Fatoumata Diawara: lead vocals (8); 
Francois Cordas: tenor saxophone (5); 
Kandia Kora: kora (2, 4, 7); 
Eric Longsworth: cello (5); 
Jean-Baptiste Saint-Martin: guitar (2, 5, 6); 
Francois Verly: percussion (2-8); 
Memeru: choir leader

Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Live at Diksmuide [2006] [bootleg]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

      The meeting of the mythical Dutch punk-rock band The Ex and the legendary Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria has given rise to a CD (Terp Records) as well as many performances to enthusiastic audiences in various venues and festivals, among them the concert in Diksmuide.  

      Most compositions come from the Ehtiopian repertoire. While The Ex do not speak Amharic and Getatchew understands only a few words of English, communication flows between them, in the sensitive way they find musical solutions, the energy they put in and the instant pleasure of playing together.

Getatchew Mekuria (Mekurya) – Biography


Gétatchèw Mèkuria is an Ethiopian jazz saxophonist.

       Mèkuria began his musical studies on traditional Ethiopian instruments such as the krar and the messengo, and later moved on to the saxophone and the clarinet. Upon reaching adolescence, he began his career in 1949 as a part of the Municipality Band in Addis Ababa.

       In 1965 he joined the famous Police Orchestra. He was also one of the first musicians to play an instrumental version of the Ethiopian war chant “Shellela.” 

      With the album Negus of Ethiopian Sax (since re-released as part of the Ethiopiques CD series), Mekuria became known as internationally as one of the most important proponents of Ethio-jazz.

    He has had a long career working alongside many of the biggest orchestras in the Ethiopian capital. He has also accompanied Alemayehu Eshete, Hirut Beqele and Ayalew Mesfin. He still lives in Addis, and shows up regularly at the Sunset Bar at the Sheraton.

     In 1974, he became a professor of police orchestras (?) in Addis, where he still lives.

     The album "Negus of Ethiopian Sax" caught the ears of Dutch avant-garde/punk band The Ex who invited the septuagenarian sax player to perform at their 25th anniversary show in Amsterdam. In turn, Mekuria asked The Ex to be the backup band for his 2006 album, Moa Anbessa. The Ex and Mekuria toured The Netherlands, Belgium and France together in 2006 and 2007.

01. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Muziqawi Silt (5:24)

02. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Ethiopia Hagere (7:01)

03. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Sethed Seketelat (5:05)

04. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Ambassèl (5:06)

05. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Belomy Benna (6:16)

06. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Che Belew Shellela (4:41)

07. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Aynamaye Nesh (5:08)

08. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Aynotche terabu/Shemonmwanaye (8:08)

09. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Eoleyo (6:51)

10. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Aha Begena (6:57)

11. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - Tezalegn Yetentu (11:17)

12. Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex Orchestra - (Getatchew Mekuria solo encore) (4:35)

The Ex – Biography

      After their start in 1979 The Ex developed over the years into a melting-pot of divergent musical styles: noise, rock, jazz, improvisation, and ethnic music have been interweaved under one unique umbrella: ‘Ex-music’. Discordant, highly rhythmic guitars, the rolling, almost African drumming style, and the furious delivery of the often sarcastic lyrics give the music of The Ex its special character.

      So far, in almost 28 years, The Ex played 1,270 concerts all over Europe, Northern America and Africa, and made over 20 CD-albums. Never pigeon-holed into one of pop music’s corny corners, The Ex is continuously in development, and always open for new ideas and collaborations with people of all kinds, people who’s spirit inspires and appeals to the group. The main principle remained; to make music with heart and soul, out of reach of commercial trends or expectations. The consequent independent approach of the group and the manner in which they organize their concerts and release and distribute their records themselves, set a significant example for the alternative music circuit.

Le Tigre [des Platanes] & Eténèsh Wassié - Zeraf ! [2008] [france+ethiopia]

              
                    R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

     

             Ever since its creation, the band Le Tigre des Platanes (the ‘Sycamore Tiger’) has been into travelling, in the image of the insect it draws its name from —the Corythucha ciliata, better known as  the sycamore lace bug, which accidentally arrived in Europe in the early 1970s.

       Hailing from Toulouse in Southern France, this acoustic quartet has always proudly proclaimed its disorderly musical borrowings, blendings and appropriation of influences from other cultures.

       In 2001, Le Tigre des Platanes discovered the Ethiopiques series, and they soon included some chosen Ethiopian pieces in their eclectic repertoire, interpreting them in their own personal fashion. During a trip to Addis Abeba, they met Etenesh Wassie, a singer with a husky voice, a kind of Abyssinian sister of Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday . They undertook the challenge of playing together with beautiful Ethiopian standards, really exploring in a reciprocal way the new musical territories open to the five musicians and  a world made of the true sum of their personalities.

          This wonderful collaboration of the French jazz group Le Tigre and Ethiopian singer Etenesh Wassie results in music that is visceral, infectious, and culminates with some of the most progressive world music in recent memory.

        "The group is named after the sycamore lace bug (Corythucha ciliata), the nasty little tree-killing insect that was imported to Europe by accident from North America in the early 1970s. In the spirit of its namesake, the Toulouse quartet is all about crossing borders, import, export, invasion, retreat..."

       And that's a fitting description of what's in store; an authentic multi-colored quilt with the sounds of Ethiopia and other locales, free jazz, hard pounding rock, all spiced and enticed by the voice and lyrics of Wassie's earthy ethnic tongue.

       A guttural incantation of growling baritone sax and evocative Ethiopian dialect commences the recording with "Medinanna Zelessegna" yet the mood quickly shifts into the jumping "Muziqawi Silt" where the two-horn affront of Marc Demereau's sax and Piero Pepin's trumpet is ignited by the pulsating heartbeat of bassist Mathieu Sourisseau and drummer Fabien Duscombs.

      A truly eclectic mix of sounds is experienced: the koto-like banjo on "Ambassel Fantay," the feverish ancestral dance on "Tche Belew" (one of many highlights), where Sourisseau's bass is strummed like a chorded guitar (or vice versa) and the horns interact in agreement and discord—totally and hypnotic.

      These excellent musicians play with abandon that at times has the intensity of a Nirvana performance of "Smells Like Teen like Spirit." Distorted strings and cyclonic horns carry "Yezemed Yebaed" and a throbbing drum and bass on "Ney-Ney Weleba" as Demereau's baritone and voice both scream. Oliver Cussac's toy-like organ intonations color the tempered "Awash" a piece where the group finds respite.

      Wassie's haunting voice (which has also been heard in Buda's Ethiopiques series) adds mystery and non-translated meaning on tunes such as "Man Yehon Telleq Sew" where her interaction with the music is perfect. With gentleness and a coarse vibrato she exudes a timeless quality on "Ambassel" that is undeniable and when combined with Le Tigre,Ethiosonic is a journey like no other.

   Eténèsh Wassié : vocals

   Marc Deméreau :  baryton sax,  alto sax, screams

   Fabien Duscombs : drums, percussion

   Piero Pépin : trumpet, bugle, mélodica

   Mathieu Sourisseau : acoustic bass guitar, guitar, banjo,                                                             soubassophone