From his base in Tel Aviv, Gili Yalo is launching a solo career in a new project that combines Ethiopian roots with soul, funk, psychedelic, and jazz music. Yalo, who has collaborated with top music producers Beno Hendler (Balkan Beat Box) and Uri Brauner Kinrot (Boom Pam), incorporates sounds from traditional Ethiopian music into a contemporary music production.
The result is an exceptional, rich, vivid melody accompanied by Gili's unique voice with lyrics in both English and Amharic. The music embodies his own personal story, which inspired the rhythm and flow of the whole project. And what a story he has to tell: Operation Moses was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984. These Ethiopian Jews fled from their native land on foot to refugee camps in Sudan. Together with his family, Gili Yalo made this perilous trip, walked through the desert towards the "Promised Land" and sang to his beloved ones.
Gili Yalo - Selam
Gili Yalo's band is made up of five musicians, including guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and trumpet. An entrancing rhythmic motion is apparent when listening to Gili's music, from the groove, beat and flow, and up to the lyrics, concept and style of the project. Today, Yalo's music gives a new meaning to traditional Ethiopian music. The expression of his story through an advanced music production represents his own personal triumph. Gili Yalo's album combines Ethiopian roots music with a modern touch of jazz and soul. Yalo began writing the songs for his album in 2015 coming from a strong desire to express himself and to send out a message to the world: in order to guide yourself forward you have to carry your roots with you and remember where you came from. Through this album, Yalo has managed to connect his personal history to his current life alongside renowned music producer Uri Brauner Kinrot (Boom Pam) and many talented local musicians who were brought together for this project.
Yalo reveals a fresh perspective to Ethiopian culture by using his personal musical influences such as James Brown and Mulatu Astatke to blend the sounds of funk and soul with Ethio-jazz music. The album, like Africa itself, is a rich patchwork of color and rhythm. The sound is influenced by '70s blues, soul, and funk music, with Ethiopian music at the core of the project. Also features Keren Dun.
About three hundred years ago, a group of Jews left the Gonder area of Ethiopia to seek their fortunes in Ethiopia's North Shewa area and later in Addis Ababa, where they settled in the Kechene neighborhood. Like their Gonder cousins who have since migrated in large numbers to Israel, this group consisted mostly of craftsmen, known especially for their beautiful hand-built pottery and woven cloth. But as the years passed, times became difficult and beginning in the 18th century, they experienced periods of extreme repression.
Eventually the community's leaders felt that the only way to survive was to go underground - literally. Much like the Anusim of medieval Spain and Portugal, they practiced Christianity on the outside while secretly following Judaism in hidden synagogues, often in caves that are located hours away by foot from the nearest town.
Fifteen of these secret synagogues still exist today, concentrated in the North Shewa area about 80 miles north of Addis Ababa. In the largest, called Mugar, about 300 men and women live permanently, their numbers swelling further at least twice a year when other community members join to commemorate their martyrs and celebrate their festivals. As with other Ethiopian Jews, their tradition consists only of pre-Talmudic practices.
The elders believe that the caves will take you to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). Sintayehu said that he and Demeke once walked for 15 minutes inside the Mugar synagogue-cave and there was no end. Their torch, a candle, eventually burned out.
The traditional songs you hear in this album come from these secret synagogues, passed down from generation to generation.
Within the last few years a group of young men emerged from this community and, thanks to Ethiopia's new constitution that guarantees freedom of worship, they decided to openly practice their religion once more. Much had been forgotten with regard to Jewish practice, but they opened a small synagogue in the Kechene neighborhood of Addis Ababa and learned anew. Although not yet recognized by the state of Israel as eligible for immigration under the Law of Return, in their songs they yearn for Jerusalem and for Israel - the land of their ancestors. Demeke and Sintayehuexplain that this music, which the members sing after their regular Friday evening worship service, carries you spiritually to a different time and place. They are certainly right about that.
All the singers on this album remember their grandmothers and grandfathers singing these traditional songs in the secret synagogues. Demeke ben Engda, who moonlights as a professional singer and regularly leads the Friday evening Sabbath worship service in Kechene, has composed several modern songs in the traditional style. (Another synagogue member, Daniel Desalegn Firku, is a part-time collaborator.) Yet all members realize that, with increased exposure to the outside world, the danger lurks that all these songs may become irrevocably lost or changed. Hence the decision to make this CD -- the first of its kind. We are grateful to everyone who contributed.
01 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Miseker (Witness) (6:56)
02 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - B'yerusalem (In Jerusalem) (5:05)
03 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Min Alu Dawit (What David Said) (4:04)
04 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Kiber New (It Is an Honor) (5:44)
05 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Senbet L'yuna (Sabbath Is Unique) (4:49)
06 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Temesgen (Thanks to God) (4:08)
07 - Beta Avraham 'Kechene' Community - Zimare (Song) (4:18)
Zvuloon Dub System is Israel's leading Reggae band. Adopting their name from one of the twelve tribes of Israel, the band was formed in 2006 by the Smilan brothers. They shared the same passion for roots reggae and dub, with influences from a variety of music styles, like Ethiopian jazz and rare grooves from the 70’s, USA's soul, funk and jazz, alongside with Israeli mizrahi (oriental) music.
Zvuloon Dub System - Anbessa Dub [FULL ALBUM]
band members:
Gili Yalo - lead vocals, Inon Peretz - trumpet, Ilan Adiri - tenor sax, Ilan Smilan - lead guitar, Simon Nahum - rhythm guitar, Lior Romano - piano and organ, Tal Marcus - bass, Asaf Smilan - drums and percussion guests artists:
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)
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)
Ester Rada’s cross-cultural sound is a deep reflection of the Israeli born Ethiopian’s heritage. Growing up in a highly religious Jewish family in more than modest conditions in Israel, gave Rada the drive to change her way of life and fulfill her dream of creating music.
Ester recently released her debut album "Ester Rada", after releasing her acclaimed first self-written and composed soloEP called "Life Happens", which was produced by Israeli producers Kuti (Kutiman/Thru-You) and Sabbo (Soulico), at the beginning of 2013.
Rada gained worldwide popularity on a tour across Europe, the United States and Canada. She has recently performed at the Glastonbury Festival. She performed at the opening act of Alicia Keys' concert in Israel. Rada's music video "Life Happens" has been broadcast on MTV France, East Europe, and Israel, as well as on VH1 UK. Rada credits Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin as her musical influences, alongside Eryka Badu, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott.
Rada started her acting career in musical theater, and won an award for her role in Habima Theatre's The Troupe. In 2007 she played a major role in the TV serial "Deus". In the same year she also acted in Habima's play Sdakim bebeton. Filmography and TV Appearances: Still Walking Zrubavel Kirot The Special. Yes's series New York.
In the end of 2012 Ester Rada released an EP entitled "Life Happens" with four of her songs. The album was positively received by critics, who describe her music as "cross-cultural sound that is a deep reflection of the Israeli born Ethiopian's heritage" and "graceful composition of Ethio-Jazz, funk, soul and r&b, with mixed undertones of black grooves"
1. Ester Rada - Life Happens (3:56)
2. Ester Rada - Monsters (4:53)
3. Ester Rada - Anything from you (4:52)
4. Ester Rada - Could it be (3:17)
+ BONUS TRACK
5. Ester Rada - Life Happens (Shimi Sonic remix) (4:17)
The tribal cultures of Eastern Africa, and in fact, the world, are fast disappearing. Within twenty years, Kenya will reach the take-off point of economic development, and by the turn of the century, foreign industrialization will transform the pastoral nomadic way of life in Northern Kenya and Soutbern Ethiopia into a 19th-Century midwestern town. The ties of the people with the land will be broken. A major highway will run through Central Ethiopia bringing tourists and money to a country which does not have enough water for its own people, whose lakes are polluted and infested by lethal worms which produce incurable intestinal disorders.
As the world reaches the 21st-Century, the Ethiopians may not have enough water to drink, much less to wash their clothes. Men in Adis now wear socks and shoes, the children wear paisley shirts, yet in the South, in the semi-desert conditions, life is still survival; the people live from one day to the next trading goods, bartering, and praying for rain for the harvest. The legends of the past are only preserved in song, and the wandering bards are rarely seen,as they work in the fields as much as fifteen hours a day. A medicine man 1s rare, because the spirit of the old religions and customs are not permitted to continue in a culture which is fast breaking its way into the Twentieth Century. Mythology 1s song in Ethiopia, and the song is the experience of life o As the animals die, the songs of the water-hole and the market disappear; the deeds of the warriors who fought the Turks and the Egyptians are silenced forever.
One of the last traditionally Hebraic tribes of Ethiopia, the Falashim live in Ambover, in a village about ten miles ~om Gondar. In order to reach the village, one must either walk seven miles from where the bus stops, or take a Landrover over cow pastures and farming lands, through small valleys and over small hills. Quiet people, the Falashim still worship in the same traditions as their ancestors did 2,000 years ago.
Speaking Geez, the ancient language from which Amhara, the national language of Ethiopia developed, the Falasha worship in a small hut without an altar.
The Kohnian, or prayers, are conducted by the leader, while the other m@mbers chant and singo Geez is also the language used by the Coptic Church for prayer, but at times Hebrew words are interspersed. The
Falasha people used to conduct the service entirely in Hebrew, but since the time of the Sudanese War in 1892, when the Hebrew books were
burned, they have been praying in Geez.
The Falasbim believe that in 586 the first exiles from Babylon came through Egypt to Ethiopiao There are still other conclaves or groups of isolated Falasha who live around Gondar, in the GoJjam Province, but their numbers are steadily decreasing because of intermarriages.
The Falashim or Falasha people migrated from a very substantial community in Jerusalem, during the l7th, l8th and 19th Centuries.
The combination of the Turkish seizure of the Ethiopian seaboard, the plague which ravaged Jerusalem in 1838, and the unacceptance of the Armenians who persecuted the new Turkish subjects, forced the Falashim to flee to their present location.
In Ambover, one of the centers of the Falasha, the people live around the school, which was built in 1970, yet it is not uncommon for a
villager to live on an ajoining hilltop. The Falashim children learn three languages in school: English, Amharic, and Hebrew. Atter they reach the age of fifteen, they must either be accepted by the university in Addis, or go to work in the fields. Extremely poor people, the Falasha depend on the land to survive, yet farming La difficult without machines. The chanting of the Falasha is the celebration of life, and was recorded 8/11/72. The ceremony has rarely been heard.
The Adjuran are a semi-nomadic group of wandering cattle herders who
live north of Isiolo, Kenya, and south of Dilla, Ethiopia, approximately a distance of 500 miles. The small, pastoral agricultural villages are along a road of tar, clay and dirt, which is sometimes non-existant in the mountains of the Maji Province o Part of the Garris Tribe, 'N'hich is Berber, these people make temporary shelters, trade, barter, and raise cattle. Their music is traditional; singers, dancers, religious nomads, Moslems, who raise their hands in trance-like dances, undulate their bodies, inhale/exhale short audible modulations of poly- rhythmic chanting. With their raised arms, the Adjuran hop together, lifting one foot, jumping three or four feet into the air, imitating their camels which graze a short distance awiay, licking a white powder from their hands.
Like the Garris, the Burgia, the Borana, the Adjuran also sing ot the camel, the King, the cow and the baby.The love of man for man is instinctual; it is revealed in the actions of the dance - the ritual play of the animal or man, even before there was speech. The King, Emperor Haile Selassie, is praised as a hero, for letting the people be free (not for letting them live in destitution). Although the tribes are rounded up by the local police and ushered intothe villages for the ceremonial festivities of the Emperor's eightieth birthday, they do not regret coming because they are permitted to eat all the raw meat they can the two-day celebration. Tedj, honey-mead beer, is abundant, and this is the event when camel herders arrive in Moyak to talk, love, reminisce, and barter their goods o The Borana come across the border from Kenya, and the Rindilla sine on the water barrels.
Jewish Community in Gondar, Ethiopia
01 - Members of the Falasha Tribe recorded in Ambover & Ethiopia - Falasha: The Complete Ceremony of Shabbat Shalom (24:15)
This album features the religious music of Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas. While most Falashas--and Ethiopians in general--speak Amharic, the tracks on this album are in Geez.
There is no evidence the Falashas have ever spoken Hebrew. Liner notes include photographs as well as a brief history and description of the Falasha culture.
Falasha - Exile of the Black Jews Beta Israel
Origins & History Of The Tribe of Falasha
Falashas, native Jewish sect of Ethiopia.The origin of the Falashas is unknown. One Falasha tradition claims to trace their ancestry to Menelik, son of King Solomon of Israel and the queen of Sheba. Some scholars place the date of their origin before the 2nd century BC, largely because the Falashas are unfamiliar with either the Babylonian or Palestinian Talmud.
The Bible of the Falashas is written in an archaic Semitic dialect, known as Ge'ez, and the Hebrew Scriptures are unknown to them. The name Falasha is Amharic for "exiles" or "landless ones"; the Falashas themselves refer to their sect as Beta Esrael ("House of Israel").
The religion of the Falashas is a modified form of Mosaic Judaism unaffected generally by postbiblical developments.
The Falashas retain animal sacrifice. They celebrate scriptural and nonscriptural feast days, although the latter are not the same as those celebrated by other Jewish groups.
One of the Falasha nonscriptural feast days, for example, is the Commemoration of Abraham.
The Sabbath regulations of the Falashas are stringent.They observe biblical dietary laws, but not the postbiblical rabbinic regulations concerning distinctions between meat and dairy foods.
Marriage outside the religious community is forbidden.
Monogamy is practiced, marriage at a very early age is rare, and high moral standards are maintained.
The center of Falasha religious life is the masjid, or synagogue. The chief functionary in each village is the high priest, who is assisted by lower priests. Falasha monks live alone or in monasteries, isolated from other Falashas. Rabbis do not exist among the Falashas.
The Falashas live either in separate villages or in separate quarters in Christian or Muslim towns, in the region north of Lake Tana. They are skilled in agriculture, masonry, pottery, ironworking, and weaving.
Under Haile Selassie I, a few Falashas rose to positions of prominence in education and government, but reports of persecution followed the emperor's ouster in 1974.
More than 12,000 Falashas were airlifted to Israel in late 1984 and early 1985, when the Ethiopian government halted the program.
The airlift resumed in 1989, and about 3500 Falashas emigrated to Israel in 1990. Nearly all of the more than 14,000 Falashas remaining in Ethiopia were evacuated by the Israeli government in May 1991.
The Falashas themselves say that they are direct descendants from the family of Abraham, the first Jew. Terah, Abraham's father,came from the land of Ur of the Chaldees which was located in the southern part of the Euphrates.
The Chaldees were one of many Kushite tribes of the region and Kushite means Black according to the Bibical dictionary. The Kushites were descended from Kush a son of Ham.
Godfrey higgins,an English expert on antiquities stated in his book :
"The Chaldees were originally Negroes"
Falasha (or Beta Israel), a Jewish Hamitic people of Ethiopia who claim descent from Menelik I, the son of the queen of Sheba and King Solomon; have no knowledge of Talmud but use a Bible and a prayer book written in Ge'ez, the ancient Ethiopian language.
They follow Jewish traditions including circumcision, observing the Sabbath, attending synagogue, and following certain dietary and purity laws.
Recognized in 1975 by the Chief Rabbinate as Jews and allowed to settle in Israel.
In 1984-85 thousands of Falashas resettled to Israel from refugee camps in Sudan as part of the Israeli government's "Operation Moses" and the U.S. government's "Operation Sheba."
Falasha, also spelled Felasha, an Ethiopian of Jewish faith. The Falasha call themselves House of Israel (Beta Israel) and claim descent from Menilek I, traditionally the son of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda) and King Solomon. Their ancestors, however, were probably local Agau (Agaw, Agew) peoples in Ethiopia who were converted by Jews living in southern Arabia in the centuries before and after the start of the Christian Era. The Falasha remained faithful to Judaism after the conversion of the powerful Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum to Christianity in the 4th century ce, and thereafter the Falasha were persecuted and forced to retreat to the area around Lake Tana, in northern Ethiopia. Despite Ethiopian Christian attempts to exterminate them in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Falasha partly retained their independence until the 17th century, when the emperor Susenyos utterly crushed them and confiscated their lands. Their conditions improved in the late 19th and 20th centuries, at which time tens of thousands of Falasha lived in the region north of Lake Tana. Falasha men are traditionally ironsmiths, weavers, and farmers. Falasha women are known for their pottery.
The Falasha have a Bible and a prayer book written in Geʿez, an ancient Ethiopian language. They have no Talmudic laws, but their preservation of and adherence to Jewish traditions is undeniable. They observe the Sabbath, practice circumcision, have synagogue services led by priests (kohanim) of the village, follow certain dietary laws of Judaism, observe many laws of ritual uncleanness, offer sacrifices on Nisan 14 in the Jewish religious year, and observe some of the major Jewish festivals.
From 1980 to 1992 some 45,000 Falasha fled drought- and war-stricken Ethiopia and emigrated to Israel. The number of Falasha remaining in Ethiopia was uncertain, but estimates ranged to only a few thousand (see Researcher’s Note: Falasha migration to Israel, 1980–92). The ongoing absorption of the Falasha community into Israeli society was a source of controversy and ethnic tension in subsequent years.
Falasha! The Saga of Ethiopian Jewry Part 2
Unspecified - Prayer for Passover 01464A1 (1:36)
Unspecified - Prayer for New Year 0146A2 (1:20)
Unspecified - Prayer for Passover 01464B1 (1:46)
Unspecified - Prayer "Adonai" for Saturday 0146B2 (2:24)
Unspecified - Prayer of Absolution 01465A1 (3:03)
Unspecified - Prayer "Adonai" for Weekdays 01465A2 (2:25)
