Jorga Mesfin is a self taught musician with influences that span the spirit and innovation of Jazz and the ancient and diverse sounds found in Ethiopian music.
Wudasse - Ete Mate
A professional performer since the age of 17, his career boasts appearances with Tsegaye Gebremedhin, Carolyn Beard Withlow, The Last Poets, Vijay Iyer, Wayna Wondossen, Kirk Whalum, Takana Miyamoto, Gizze Reggae band, Dionne Farris, Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Mulatu Astatke.
He is the founder of Ethio-jazz group Wudasse, and composed the score to Haile Gerima’s epic Ethiopian movie Teza, for which he won the award for Best Music Selection at the 22nd Carthage Film Festival and Best Composer Award at the 5th Dubai International Film Festival. As a saxophone and piano instructor, Jorga teaches at the at African Jazz School, Mekanisa Mekanyesys Music School and the Wusate Berhan Abere Music Training Center for the Visually Impaired.
The highlights of "Mood Swings" are its originality, smoothingness and musical variety: Ethiopian, jazz, reggae, African Soukous, ballads and more. Every song, as the title of the album insinuates, possesses its own mood.
The album's "Nostalgia" and "Visions of Love" account for a mellow mood, "Eskesta" and "Sweet Soukous" are upbeat songs, "Night Life" and "Urban Life" possess a jazzy groove and the romantic "Berhane Nesh" and "Hiwot" are more reflective.
"Endegena Degmo" has received high popularity for it's traditional yet modern feel. The last song on the album "All My Love" is a dance music produced in collaboration with a young and talented singer Yolanda Davis.
Nebiyu T. Kebede - 01 - Nostalgia (5:26) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 02 - Berhane Nesh (5:02) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 03 - Endegena Degmo (4:39) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 04 - Hiwot (4:28) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 05 - Eskesta (4:26) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 06 - Night Groove (4:12) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 07 - Visions of Love (4:30) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 08 - Urban Life (4:03) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 09 - Sweet Soukous (3:40) Nebiyu T. Kebede - 10 - All My Love (4:41)
Nadav Haber started to learn the clarinet at the age of 10. In 1988-89 he lead a qaurtet in the Tel-Aviv clubs in Israel, and played in a blues duo. In the 90's nadav has switched to the tenor sax, and began to explore Ethiopian music. He played in Ethiopian dance bands all over Israel, in Ethiopian clubs and weddings. This has lead to the issue of Ethiopian Blues, and other smaller productions that were aimed at the Ethiopian Israeli market.
In recent years Nadav moved back to playing jazz, and in 2003 led a hard bop quintet in Jerusalem. He is currently working on two projects - an Ethiopian Jazz program and a “Favorite ballads” program.
Nadav Haber Quartet - Merkato
Nadav Haber Quartet - 01 - Merkato (6:23) Nadav Haber Quartet - 02 - Revalation (8:40) Nadav Haber Quartet - 03 - Reflection (9:09) Nadav Haber Quartet - 04 - Rambling (8:33) Nadav Haber Quartet - 05 - Limbo (8:42) Nadav Haber Quartet - 06 - Sudan (6:16) Nadav Haber Quartet - 07 - Arrival (7:02) Nadav Haber Quartet - 08 - Tizita (9:03) Nadav Haber Quartet - 09 - Prayer (12:38)
Mathias Makonnenstarted music at the age of 16 with his friends: Abegaz, Henock, Minassie, Mebratou and Abiy.
The late Genene Nebebe was the pioneer person in bringing Mathias into the Music world.
Teodros Desta soon after, offered Mathias to join the Sevans Band upon Mathias' Return from overseas studies.
In 1989, after migrating to the USA, Mathias was approached by legendary singer and song writer, Aster Aweke, to join her Band in Washington D.C. with Teodros Mitiku(Sax) and Mesfin GM(Bass).
Mathias continued backing Aster Aweke in the 1989 International Music Fest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, hosted by David Sanborne.
Mathias still performs with legendary and upcoming singers world-wide.
Roha Band has influenced the Ethiopian music industry as no other private music band has succeeded in. Perhaps one can safely say that Roha Band means to Ethiopia what “The Beatles” were to Britain.
The establishment of “The Roha Band” draws upon heavily or has a strong relation with the fall outs from the wind down and disintegration of the Ibex and Dahlak bands. Members of these two bands recollect that the reasons for the dissolution of the two bands have to do with the emigration of band members to the Sudan and the US leaving a serious vacuum of skill in the bands.
The Roha Band took it’s name from the historic town of Lalibela. The founding members of the band were Giovanni Rico (Bass guitar), Selam Seyoum (Lead guitar), Fekade Made Meskel (Tenor Sax), all these three hail from Ibex Band and those who joined the Roha Band after the disintegration of the Dahlak Band were Dawit Yifru (Key board and music arranger), Levon Fondachi (vocalist), Tekle Tesfazgi (drummer and vocalist joined the Roha Band leaving their private activities. After the band begun its work, it soon realized that it needed an additional skill and resources. This resulted in the second wave of outsourcing which brought Yonas Degefe (saxophone) and Elias Bekele, Berhanu Yoseph and Ashenafi Awel (both drummers) as well as Yared Teferra (saxophone) in to the fold of the band.
The startup was difficult specially in terms of capital and musical instruments. Thus, the former Ibex Band members brought the musical instruments they got upon the dissolution of the band to use them in their new band assignments. The band also secured a loan of Birr 40,000.00 from Ato Abeselom Yihdego for the purchase of additional instruments. This well known philanthropist thereby left a deep sense of gratitude in the memory of the band member’s to date. In fact, the man is known for a helping hand he extends from time to time to those engaged in the activities of music and sports.
Roha Band reunion
The beginnings of the Roha Band were pretty humble and it remains a relative unknown for some time. It was affiliated to the Hilton and Ghion hotels, not a great way to reach the wider public other than the small number of customers of these hotels.
The band’s introduction to the public rather came through its involvement in the recording industry where it accompanied and engaged in music arrangement. It benefited nearly all of the best known vocalists of the country both veteran and emerging talents. With this the fame of the band sky rocketed. The skill of the members was phenomenal, their rythems and arrangements were electrifying. The name Roha Band became synonymous with an paralled musical talent and it was the number one preference for a singer who contemplates an album release.
Its excellence is such that music lovers never mind to buy cassettes even those released complete stranger if it is accompanied by the Roha Band and produced by the Ambassel Recordings. The two brands offer a guarantee through quality. The legacy of the Roha Band has influenced the music industry in some other ways. For instance, usually it is the singer or the vocalist that takes the lion’s share of the admiration and fame after a successful release. The public never asks about the band accompanying the singer. There is no doubt the Roha Band’s influence changed this in drawing the attention of the public to the bands behind the fame and glory of singers.
Among the focalists in whose releases the Roha Band took part (both in accompanying and music arrangement) were Mahmoud Ahmed, Tehome Wolde, Muluken Melesse, Alemayehu Eshete, Melkamu Tebeje, Kuku Sebsbie, Hamelmal Abate, Neway Debebe, Tsehate Yohannes and many many others.
Roha Band - Oromigna
Besides its regular engagement at the Hilton and Ghion hotels, the band also took part in several musical tours with the vocalists it accompanied. It’s tours took it to towns like Asmara, Assab, Massawa, Mekele, Bahar Dar, Jimma, Dire Dawa, Awassa, Nazareth e.t.c.The instrumental it released was an instant hit and exhibited the individual and collective skills of the band members. The cassette is still highly sought after, a limited release as it was.
In the cassette Aster Aweke’s “Hode Mela”, Mahmoud Ahmed’s “Shegule ya lelawo”, Tekle Tesfazgi’s “Fikere telemeni” went instrumental showing how best the band can play both fast and slow music. Among the several music tours the band did the one that requires a special mention was the band’s tour to the areas of Metekel and Gambells where students and instructors of higher education institutions were on duty of building houses for a grand resettlement programme. The band toured these remote border areas and gave live shows free of charge. It has to be noted here that the government sent the band to these areas at the request of the students. The shows it gave were successful both in entertaining the tens of thousands of students who were in hostile and most basic of conditions ans in securing a good reputation to the band.
The Roha Band further developed its resources and brought better musical instruments some of which were new to the domestic music industry. Having strengthened itself, the band toured even further, this time to voluntaries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and several states in America.
The fact that the band members were, besides their musical talent, versed in various individual skills and had different trainings, gave the band the opportunity of making use of this resource and be able to have a very good financial administration and resource management. For instance, the band’s music arranger and key board player Dawit Yifru is a professional accountant, Giovanni Rico studied management. In fact the band was a well managed one.
In a band setting, working together for 13 years is a rare thing. The Roha Band did this until it finally dissolved in 1993.
Factors such as members desire to earn a living by engagements and businesses other than music, the hardship the entertainment industry faced with and the unfavorable and a business centered competition from second rate bands offering their service cheap e.t.c. all pushed the Roha Band out of the lime light and into oblivion. Out of the band members Dawit Yifru, Yonas Degefe (Simon Libanos), Yared Teferra and Ashenefi Awel are still in the music industry. Dawit Yifru is the current president of Ethiopian Musicians Association. The other band members gave up music for good and are leading their lives in other engagements. Apart from Tekle Tesfazghi who died in a car accident in 1987, the others are not only alive but also had a serious plan in mind. Following an over whelming request from the public ina recent radio programme on one of the FMs, the band members confirmed that they have a well thought over plan to regroup one again and give a show as a fare well bid to their fans wheather of not an age factong on musical talent is something to be seen.
Roha Band - 01 - Ambassel - Instrumental (6:24)
Roha Band - 02 - Kememot Aldenem (6:48)
Roha Band - 03 - Fikrey Telemeni [Tegregna] (4:58)
Originally from Ethiopia, Ermias T. Kebede lived in different parts of the world including France and Italy. He currenly resides in the US, in the city of Chicago, IL.
Picked up the guitar in SJS High School in Addis Ababa and has been playing every kind of music since. He joined a variety of bands in his career, some of whose members have played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Ziggy Marley.
Currently a member of ABOGIDA band touring with Teddy Afro, he also runs his own independent label, ETK MUSIC, under which he has released two albums "Mystic Groove" and "Glimpse of Victory".
A combination of world, jazz and Reggae music like never mixed before, "Mystic Groove" transports you into the planes of strong rhythms and hypnotic grooves with subtle yet distinct melodies paving the way.
"My primary motivation for completing the project "Mystic Groove" is to bring forth the mystical rhythms of Reggae to a wider audience. I have always been moved by the subtle yet powerful rhythm of the "one drop" beat that mainly categorizes Reggae music from the rest. I believe different types of music affect different parts of the human self and Reggae goes right to the spirit"
Hailu Mergia was born in Debre Birhan, Showa Province, Ethiopia in 1938 (1946 in the European calendar) to parents Tewabech Ezineh and Mergia Lulessa, who were of Amhara and Oromo ancestry, respectively. His mother took him to Aynemisa, close to Addis, where he grew up from age 3 until he was 10 when they moved to the capital Addis Ababa.
Hailu went to Shimelis Habte high school but dropped out before graduating. In 1952 (1960 in European calendar), he joined the army music department as a boy scout to support his mother. Mergia stayed in the army almost two years, learning how to read and write music.
After Hailu left the army, he started singing in small bars as a freelance musician. He joined various pick-up bands, touring across the Ethiopian provinces as a singer and accordion player for almost a year. After the group broke up, he started performing in nightclubs like Addis Ababa, Patrice Lumumba, Asegedech Alamrew, Sombrero, Zula Club and others. At Zula Club he and his mates formed Walias Band and did something no other band in Ethiopian nightclub history had done: they started buying their own musical instruments. Until then the club owners were supplying the instruments and had the power to fire musicians at will.
Zula Band
For the first time ever Walias Band signed a contract with the owner of Venus Club as a group thereby protecting themselves from club owners. Mergia and Walias Band went on to do gigs at hotels like Wabi Shebele and the Hilton.
After playing almost eight years at the Hilton Hotel, Mergia and Walias Band came to the United States and toured widely in 1982-1983. Afterwards, some of of the band stayed in America while others went back to Addis. That was a heartbreaking time for the band. They considered themselves a family, and they knew they had broken new ground in the history of Addis nightclub musicians. They had helped make the Ashantis Band from Kenya famous in Addis.
They were the first private band who played for state dinners at the palace for the Derg government (twice). And, they were the first private band to tour the USA. After the break-up of Walias Band, Mergia settled in the States and formed Zula Band with Moges Habte and Tamiru Ayele, playing in different restaurants and touring in the States and Europe.
At that time, Mergia made a one-man band recording with accordion for the first time, mixing in Rhodes electric piano, Moog synthesizer and a rhythm machine. That was 1985. This recording was inspired by the early memories of his first instrument, the accordion. After the break-up of Zula Band in 1992, he quit performing and ran Soukous Club for seven years with his partners Moges and Tamiru.
Hailu Mergia weaves Moog DX7 synthesizer, Rhodes electric piano and rhythm machine into the rich harmonic layering of his accordion, creating hauntingly psychedelic, elegantly arranged instrumentals. These tunes draw from famous traditional and modern Ethiopian songs, as Hailu brilliantly matches lush Amhara, Tigrinya and Oromo melodies with otherworldly flavors soaked in jazz and blues, synthesizing a futuristic landscape. He balances Ethiopian music's signature melodic shape with beautiful analog synth touches, floating upon clouds of hypnotically minimal rhythm tracks.
Nowadays he's making his living as a self-employed taxi driver at Dulles International Airport while continuing to record his music and practice as often as possible.
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 01 - Akal Aynish (7:46)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 02 - Kotume (7:00)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 03 - Ere Min Yishalegnal (6:54)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 04 - Ayaskefam (7:15)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 05 - Alamnim (8:39)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 06 - Wusheten New (5:58)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 07 - Hallo Hallo (6:33)
Hailu Mergia and Zula Band - 08 - Engidaye Nesh (7:44)
Nadav Haber started to learn the clarinet at the age of 10. In 1988-89 he lead a qaurtet in the Tel-Aviv clubs in Israel, and played in a blues duo. In the 90's nadav has switched to the tenor sax, and began to explore Ethiopian music. He played in Ethiopian dance bands all over Israel, in Ethiopian clubs and weddings. This has lead to the issue of Ethiopian Blues, and other smaller productions that were aimed at the Ethiopian Israeli market.
In recent years Nadav moved back to playing jazz, and in 2003 led a hard bop quintet in Jerusalem. He is currently working on two projects - an Ethiopian Jazz program and a “Favorite ballads” program.
01. Nadav Haber - Alchalkum (3:27) 02. Nadav Haber - In Her Youth (4:45) 03. Nadav Haber - Beautiful (5:30) 04. Nadav Haber - Love At First Sight (3:49) 05. Nadav Haber - Ethiopia (4:29) 06. Nadav Haber - My Life (4:29) 07. Nadav Haber - Japanese Woman (4:28) 08. Nadav Haber - Seven Miles From Addis (3:48) 09. Nadav Haber - When She Goes Away (3:53) 10. Nadav Haber - Long Ago (4:41) 11. Nadav Haber - Tizita (Song of Longing) (5:08)
Afro-Zen Allstars' primary inspiration is the the haunting and danceable sounds created during Ethiopia's "Golden Age" (late '60's-mid '70's). This is music that takes hold of both mind and body and never let's go, and Afro-Zen Allstars present it in updated form with compelling new arrangements and world-class soloists.
Established by guitarist/arranger George M Lowe, Afro-Zen Allstars features the formidable talents of past and present members of such luminary Richmond ensembles as Bio Ritmo, No BS Brass!, Rattlemouth, Fado Nosso, Glows In The Dark, Hotel X, Monk's Playground, The Flavor Project, Ululating Mummies, and more.
Afro-Zen Allstars - Bemin Sebeb Litlash
CJ Alicea, drums Adrien Bayo, percussion Brian Cruse, bass John Lilley, alto and tenor sax George M Lowe, founder, guitar and arrangements Chris Sclafani, baritone and alto sax Chris Vasi, guitar Toby Whitaker, trombone Afro-Zen Allstars - 01 - Yekermo Sew (6:00) Afro-Zen Allstars - 02 - Lemon (Lomiwen Teqebeletch) (4:53) Afro-Zen Allstars - 03 - Netsanet (6:27) Afro-Zen Allstars - 04 - The Pillar of Truth (Yewnet Messosso) (5:00) Afro-Zen Allstars - 05 - Muziqawi Silt (6:27) Afro-Zen Allstars - 06 - Here Is Freedom (4:57) Afro-Zen Allstars - 07 - Yekatit (4:21)
