Temesgen was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has studied with Alemayehu Fanta and Teshome Shenkute at the Yared School of Music in Addis Ababa. It is Temesgen's dream to keep alive the ancient musical traditions of Ethiopia. He is in the process of setting up a school to teach the Begena and the Krar.
"Listen to the stark, haunting sounds of traditional Ethiopian music and you will be elevated to a place free from worries and strife. The wisdom and knowledge of centuries of culture are communicated by the nimble fingers and resonant voice of Temesgen. Temesgen sings songs of life, of love and of devotion. Deeply spiritual, with the simple truth of folk music, sanded and distilled by generations of musicians, these songs have evolved over the ages to shine with the pristine beauty of the very roots "
- liner notes from Begena Bedtimes (2006).
A versatile singer-songwriter, Temesgen has begun to explore the frontiers of ethio-fusion. His non-traditional work is a soulful stew of reggae, ethiopian, and jazz. He is currently working on Begena Fusion, an album that features the begena in a modern milieu. And, Krarization a collection of popular contemporary songs re-interpreted with the help of the krar. Temesgen has also created instructional DVDs on how to play the krar and the begena.
A soul singer in the style of Mahmoud Ahmed, Teschome (or Teshome) Wolde first found success in the mid-70s with a series of acclaimed performances at the City Hall Theatre in Addis Ababa. In 1981 he released his first cassette in Ethiopia and he has subsequently released eight more for the local market. He has performed throughout Ethiopia and in neighbouring countries including Djibouti and Saudi Arabia. He has also toured in Europe and the USA.
His debut CD, The Ethiopian Soul Revue, was recorded at a concert at the Rocket Hall in London in 1994, with backing supplied by the Ethio Stars. Released four years later it features a mixture of high-energy dance tunes and soulful ballads and resembles an intense North African version of the Memphis Soul Reviews of the 60s.
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"
Ali Shebbo origins from Dire Dawa. He is playing guitar and was along with Ali Birra, Abetew Kebede singing in Afaan Oromo when the government was trying to prohibit it. He also made some performances in Addis Abeba, gave out a 7’’ with Philips, and was an active performer and song-writer and popular amongst the Oromos in the 70s and early 80s.
Ali Shebbo - Dumbushie Ghela
Ali Shebbo - 01 - Garaan Soba Beeka (1:18) Ali Shebbo - 02 - Ashitaa Hararii (4:46) Ali Shebbo - 03 - Egnumtiin Dhaamsa Siidhaama (6:28) Ali Shebbo - 04 - Koo Yaabareedu (6:20) Ali Shebbo - 05 - Yaani kee Yoom Nadhiise (6:01) Ali Shebbo - 06 - Asiyoobe (4:51) Ali Shebbo - 07 - Askootu Assin Jira (5:33) Ali Shebbo - 08 - Shagar Ba'huuree (6:01) Ali Shebbo - 09 - Haaroon Haaramaayaa (6:01) Ali Shebbo - 10 - Ija Lameen Kula (5:12) Ali Shebbo - 11 - Bariidana Kee ti (6:25)
Ethiopian music is primarily based on a five tone scale system. This is known as a pentatonic scale (‘penta’ means five, and ‘tonic’ means note). While most of the music uses a pentatonic scale, some melodies may be based on scales with as few as two or three notes. This is common in Ethiopian folk music, as well as children’s songs. On the other hand, some music in Ethiopia may even be diatonic. Diatonic scales contain 7 notes.
The Ethiopian word for “scale” is “kiñit”. The word “kiñit” describes both the scale being used, and sometimes the tuning of the instrument. This is because some instruments have strings with no frets, so the strings need to be tuned to the scale. These instruments include the krar, begena, and masinko.
There are four main kiñits that are used in Ethiopian music. These are the Tizita, Batti, Ambassel, and Anchihoye kiñits. Some of these have different versions or other modifications.
The Ambassel scale is a pentatonic scale widely used in the Gonder and Wollo regions of Ethiopia.
The notes of the scale (in the key of C) are C, Db, F, G and Ab. The intervals in the scale are a minor second, a major third, a major second, a minor second and a major third.
The scale is used in Ethiopian music for songs with historical themes.
A scale is a related set of pitches (not necessarily exact) that can be used as a compositional unit. It differs from a tuning or temperament since the latter is a system for tuning an instrument.
The chromatic scale can be played in Pythagorean tuning, meantone temperament, or 12-tone equal temperament, or indeed many different types of irregular musical temperament.
The washint is an end-blown wooden flute originally used by the Amhara people in Ethiopia. The washint is common in the highlands. Traditionally, Amharic musicians would pass on their oral history through song accompanied by the washint as well as the krar, a six stringed lyre, and the masenqo, a one string fiddle.
Anemut Kinde - Washint
The washint can be constructed using wood, bamboo, or other cane. Varieties exists in different lengths and relative fingerhole placement, and a performer might use several different flutes over the course of a performance to accommodate different song types. It generally has four finger-holes, which allows the player to create a pentatonic scale.
The washint is widely used traditional musical instrument. It is typically played by Ethiopian shepherds while herding cattle. The bamboo flute usually has four to six holes. Ethiopian youth learn to play this instrument at a very early age.
Yohannes Afework, a member of the famous Orchestra Ethiopia of the 1960s, and Animut Kinde are among the most popular players of this instrument.
The album is greatly influenced by music from Ethiopia, Angola and Congo. Infused with an interesting mix of soundscapes born from the world-wide multicultural and travel experiences of the musicians. This album does not only offer good music. The band Karibuni @ddis demonstrates the powerful synergy that occurs when music and social awareness merge with thoughtful lyrics and beautiful melodies.
Karibuni @ddis - Saba Sabina
Josephine Kronfli - voc, flute, shaw washint, whistle, field recordings Pit Budde - ac guitars, banjo, sitar guitar, autoharp, bass, wavedrum, shaman drum, uruwuri, field recordings, voc Rahel Budde – voc Carlos Mampuya – voc Klaus Jochmann - perc, accordion Ahmet Bektas - ud, sazbüs, darbouka, bendir, davul, voc Roshan Linsi – voc Ill James - voc Dorothea Kares – voc Michael Voss – el guitar Franziska Urton – violin Steffi Stephan – bass Benno Gromzig - bass
Karibuni @ddis - Hoya Hoye / Assiyo Bellema (5:08) Karibuni @ddis - Felega (4:58) Karibuni @ddis - Mbawala Jila / Ayaya (4:59) Karibuni @ddis - Wir Sind Eins / Esheruru (4:35) Karibuni @ddis - Selam, Shalom, Shlomo, Frieden (4:51) Karibuni @ddis - No Child Soldier (4:00) Karibuni @ddis - Saba Sabina (3:44) Karibuni @ddis - Melkam Fasika From Ethiopia (3:24) Karibuni @ddis - Kunsi Africa (6:55) Karibuni @ddis - Wefe, The Desperate Bird (5:52)
Mahmoud Ahmed, born 18 May 1941, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mahmoud Ahmed sang at weddings and family gatherings from a very early age, but while he was still a child, his family became homeless when his father lost his job. Forced to work as a shoeshine boy, the young Mahmoud’s education inevitably suffered and he was expelled from school for poor attendance. Following his headmaster’s advice that his only possible salvation lay in music, Mahmoud Ahmed soon became known locally for his powerful voice as well as his skills as a dancer of the twist and calypso. He worked as a painter’s assistant and kitchen porter at the Arizona Club, a fashionable Addis Ababa nightspot. One evening, he begged his way into performing a song with a band at the club, receiving rapturous applause and launching his musical career. He became the vocalist with the Imperial Bodyguard Band in the early 60s, subsequently remaining with them for 11 years.
Mahmoud Ahmed With Roha Band (1986)
Mahmoud Ahmed’s first album was released in 1972 and he has since made numerous recordings for the local market as well as performing with many of Ethiopia’s top bands and musicians. In 1986, the Belgian record label Crammed Discs released Erè Mèla Mèla, a compilation of Ahmed’s recordings from the 70s and one of the first albums of modern Ethiopian music available in the west. Critical response was highly favourable and a European tour followed a year later. Soul Of Addis was originally released in Ethiopia in 1985 and, while not as intense as the 70s recordings, nevertheless offered a fine showcase for Ahmed’s spellbinding voice. The Paris, France-based label Buda Musique has also released several Ahmed albums in their Éthiopiques series.
Something of a local institution, Mahmoud Ahmed still performs regularly in Addis Ababa, as well as owning and running a record label and a nightclub. He sings in a variety of local and international styles but consistently returns to the tizita (a slow and intense local form of the blues). His multi-octave voice is similar to that of Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (who died in 1997), a veritable force of nature that combines the ecstatic devotional pleading of qawwali with the precise tone and phrasing of Western jazz singers.
Mahmoud Ahmed - 01 - Endet Nesh Belulign (6:22) Mahmoud Ahmed - 02 - Yeshega Lij Mewded (7:55) Mahmoud Ahmed - 03 - Konjit (5:04) Mahmoud Ahmed - 04 - Atazlignim Woy (5:46) Mahmoud Ahmed - 05 - Yababilal (5:23) Mahmoud Ahmed - 06 - Neyima (7:15) Mahmoud Ahmed - 07 - Woy Fikir (10:24) Mahmoud Ahmed - 08 - Engidaye Nesh (7:28) Mahmoud Ahmed - 09 - Ebolale Gere (5:30)
Imperial Tiger Orchestra is a Swiss group of modern popular Ethiopian music. Its name hints at the Imperial bodyguard band of the Halie Selassie era and Monty Python’s “Tiger in Africa” sketch. It was formed after a jam organized by Genevan trumpet player Raphaël Anker.The band has released three albums and played in Europe, Southern Africa and Ethiopia.It also worked with renowned Ethiopian musicians, like Endress Hassen or the singer Hamelmal Abate.
Imperial Tiger Orchestra & Hamelmal Abate
Arte Live Web / Cosmo Jazz 2012
When Imperial Tiger Orchestra first started unravelling the yarn of Ethiopian Music from the Golden Age (1969 – 1975), no one expected the thread to be so long and no one knew where it might end. Inspired by original albums that the band found while shopping for rare musical gems on a first visit to Addis Ababa in 2009, Imperial Tiger Orchestra released a first record in 2010, the aptly-named Addis Abeba, which explored Ethiopian music from the 70s – when traditional Ethiopian brass bands began feeding off American soul. The second release, Mercato, veered towards a more pop-inspired repertoire from the 80s, and the latest release goes one step further, taking the listener deeper into Ethiopian culture, from the unique sounds of the azmari repertoire to the hypnotic groove of the major tribes.
After three years touring Europe, Imperial Tiger Orchestra has acquired a solid reputation as a mighty groove machine. The band has also taken its acid riffs to the African continent, touring South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe back in 2010. Having been invited to Addis Ababa by the renowned producer of the Ethiopiques series, Francis Falceto, the Tigers were proud to meet many of the local musicians who work to reshape traditional Ethiopian music. Based in and around Geneva, Switzerland, Imperial Tiger Orchestra has also worked with musicians and dancers from the Ethiopian diaspora, receiving their rewarding approval and blessing for their own original take on Ethiopian music.
This project brings together an extraordinary but little known African musical heritage, a labour of love recording in a makeshift studio in down-town Addis Ababa and then a journey back to Real World to capture for the first time ever in the UK some of Ethiopia's finest performers.
This project is the vision of Dub Colossus - Dubulah - aka Nick Page. Composer, guitarist, bass player and programmer Nick started his music career with Michael Riley (Steel Pulse) and in 1990 formed Transglobal Underground with Tim and Hammi, produced-wrote-played six albums before leaving in 1997 to form Temple of Sound with Neil Sparkes.
Ethiopian music is the hidden gem of Africa. At the end of the Sixties and the early Seventies, Ethiopia was in the dying years of the imperial decline of Haile Selassie and the early years of a brutally repressive junta led by Mengistu. Within the confines of this stifling and constrictive environment there flowered some astonishing music. At times showing Fela Kuti's influences, in the big band sax flavour and other times a different take on regional music, this is a music that is accessible to all and has been championed by the likes of Robert Plant, Brian Eno and Elvis Costello. The style of contemporary Ethiopia music captured by Dub Colossus ranges from dreamy blues, hypnotic grooves, jazz piano and driving funk brass.
"A Town Called Addis" was inspired by meeting , writing and working with singers and musicians in Addis Ababa in August 2006, and is a collaboration between Dub Colossus (Nick Page) and these amazing musicians covering Azmari and traditional styles as well as the popular singing styles of the 60s and 70s. It seeks to combine the golden years of ethiopique beats (popular again thanks to the release of the critically acclaimed 'Ethiopique' compliation ) and ethiojazz with the dub reggae styles of early 70s reggae groups like the Abyssinians, Mighty Diamonds and so on. along with a hint of Sun Ra..." (Dub Colossus/aka Nick Page)
The first sessions took place in a breeze block hut under corrugated iron roof bombarded by the sounds of the rainy season high up on the mountain plateau where Addis is built. "...the sound of children playing, dogs barking and women washing all permeate the sessions and help the flavour of the record, albeit as ambient smoke.....Although a howling cat chasing a rat under the roof destroyed one vocal take completely...!"
We brought these unique urban field recordings home to Real World to complete the picture. In March 2008 we invited a group of outstanding performers from Addis to travel to the UK. Some of these artists are unknown talents who have never traveled outside of their country before now, while others such as singer Sintayehu 'Mimi' Zenebe (Addis Ababa night club owner and know as the Ethiopian Edith Piaf ) and master saxophonist Feleke Hailu (a classical composer, lecturer and head of music at the Yared Music School and part of a dynastic tradition that stretches back far beyond the classic hits his father arranged for Mahmoud Ahmad in the late 1960s) have a huge reputation. They are joined by Teremag Weretow who, with his plaintive voice, playing his messenqo ( one-string fiddle) is a youthful carrier of an ancient tradition; extraordinary pianist Samuel Yirga is an exciting new discovery - a young prodigy of classical and Ethiojazz and finally the glamourous star Tsedenia Gebremarkos, winner of a Kora award as the best female singer in East Africa in 2004,
From the most primitive recording context to one of the best in the world, this project is an audio journey - and discovery of one of the most alluring, funky and seductive genres of African music.
01. Dub Colossus - Azmari Dub (5:05)
02. Dub Colossus - Entoto Dub (5:55)
03. Dub Colossus - Tazeb Kush (5:52)
04. Dub Colossus - Shegye Shegitu (Blue Nile Mix) (3:54)
05. Dub Colossus - Shegye Shegitu (One Drop mix) (4:49)
