Debo Band is a 11-piece Ethio-groove collective that has quickly earned an ever-growing and enthusiastic following in the loft spaces, neighborhood bars, and church basements of Boston, MA (USA) performing for American, and Ethiopian and Eritrean communities. Since 2006, Debo Band has been immersed in the unlikely confluence of traditional East African polyrhythms and pentatonic scales, classic American soul and funk music, and the instrumentation of Eastern European brass bands, which produced a unique form of dance music that Ethiopian audiences instantly recognize as the soundtrack of their youth, carried from party to kitchen on the ubiquitous cassette tapes of the time. And increasingly, erudite American and European audiences are also getting hip to the Ethiopian groove, largely through CD reissues of Ethiopian classics on the Ethiopiques series.
With a unique instrumentation – including horns, strings, and accordion – that is a nod to the big bands of Haile Selassie’s time, Debo Band is carrying the torch of classic Ethiopian music by giving new life to these old sounds. Their lead vocalist, Bruck Tesfaye, has the kind of pipes that reverberate with the sound of beloved Ethiopian vocalists like Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete. But Debo Band is not content simply “covering” the older styles – they also perform original compositions and new arrangements of songs from modern and contemporary artists such as Teddy Afro and Roha Band. Their expansive repertoire and spirited performances have earned them respect and recognition, leading to concert opportunities such as opening for legendary Ethiopian greats Tilahun Gessesse and Getatchew Mekuria.
Danny Mekonnen, an Ethiopian-American jazz saxophonist and a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Harvard University, created Debo as a way of exploring the unique sounds that filled the dance clubs of “Swinging Addis” and as an outlet for experimenting with new arrangements, configurations, and compositional techniques. In addition to their dedication to Ethiopian music, the other members of Debo Band are involved in a huge array of musical projects, ranging from free jazz and experimental rock music to chamber and orchestral music. Band members have composed full orchestral works, scored silent films and documentaries, recorded albums with homemade electronic instruments, and for fun, study folk music traditions from around the world, including Balkan folk music, Balinese Gamelan, and Brazilian percussion
ensembles.
For the last several months, Debo Band has committed itself to spreading its music to audiences far and wide. In early 2009 Debo toured the U.S. East Coast taking their Ethiopian grooves to diverse venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, Debo Band inspired all kinds of people to get up and dance, whether they had never seen iskista, the Ethiopian shoulder dance, or had been dancing it since childhood.
In May 2009, Debo traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to perform at the 8th Ethiopian Music Festival, an engagement supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. These performances affected Debo Band’s creative and professional development in significant ways, particularly in the collaboration they began with several traditional musicians – vocalist Selamnesh Zemene, dancer Zinash Tsegaye, drummer Asrat Ayalew, and washint (flute) player Yohannes Afewerk. All accomplished musicians in their own right, these musicians have collectively over fifty years of experience at prestigious venues ranging from the National Theater of Ethiopia to Fendika, a leading azmari bet, or traditional music house, in Addis Ababa. Working with these four musicians, Debo Band grows into a forceful, energetic, and authoritative thirteen-piece Ethiopian ensemble capable of delightful, one-of-a-kind performances.
01. Debo Band - Akale Wube (5:01) 02. Debo Band - Ney Ney Weleba (5:30) 03. Debo Band - Not Just a Song (6:06) 04. Debo Band - Yefeker Wegagene (5:30) 05. Debo Band - Asha Gedawo (5:13) 06. Debo Band - Tenesh Kelbe Lay (5:15) 07. Debo Band - And Lay (4:53) 08. Debo Band - Medinanna Zelesegna (4:11) 09. Debo Band - Habesha (6:51) 10. Debo Band - Ambassel (7:06) 11. Debo Band - DC Flower (3:22)
Either/Orchestra with Tsedenia Markos live in Ethiopia - Bati
The Either/Orchestra (E/O) is a jazz group formed by Russ Gershon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, in 1985.
E/O is configured as a "small big band", with three saxes, two trumpets and one or two trombones. E/O's is characterized by a heavier and more orchestrated sound than that of a smaller jazz combo, but remains more streamlined and improvisation-oriented than most big bands.
With a small but significant change of instrumentation - add congas/percussion, remove one trombone - and major changes in personnel - only bandleader Russ Gershon and veterans Tom Halter and Charlie Kohlhase are holdovers from their last album - the E/O has made its most sensual, rhythm-heavy recording ever.
Famous for the breadth of its musical vision, the E/O rides the powerful drums of Harvey Wirht, from Suriname, and the exciting congas of Vicente Lebron, from the Dominican Republic, on a trip from North American jazz/blues/funk, to Latin jazz, and Township jazz/calypso, to Ethiopian pop tunes from the '70s. All of these grooves are incorporated into original compositions by Gershon, except for the three Ethiopian tunes which have been arranged by the band.
The result is an intoxicating brew, forceful and seductive, with memorable melodies, superb ensemble playing and some of the best soloing ever heard in the long history of the Either/Orchestra. This is without a doubt the most accessible E/O album ever. The groove emphasis brings the E/O's tradition of challenging writing and cutting edge playing into a form that will be enjoyed by fans of African music, Latin music, even reggae and jam bands, without losing the core of E/O fans and jazz critics.
Tom Halter - trumpet, flugelhorn
Colin Fisher - trumpet, flugelhorn
Joel Yennior - trombone
Jaleel Shaw - alto saxophone
Russ Gershon - tenor, soprano saxophones
Charlie Kohlhase - baritone saxophone
Dan Kaufman - Steinway, Rhodes and Wurlitzer pianos, Hammond B-3
Rick McLaughlin - bass
Harvey Wirht - drums
Vicente Lebron - congas, bongos, percussion
1. Amiak Abet Abet (Teshome Sissay; arr. by E/O; 10:03) 2. Number Three (10:20) 3. More Beautiful than Death (10:46) 4. Musicawi Silt (Girma Beyene; arr. by E/O; 6:21) 5. Breaktime for Dougo (8:35) 6. All Those SOBs (8:58) 7. Slow Mambo for J.J. (4:53) 8. Feker Aydelmwey (Ayalew Mesfin; arr. by E/O; 7:09) 9. The Eighth Wonder (6:54)
The E/O began performing original arrangements of Ethiopian songs, inspired by a compilation called Ethiopian Groove: the Golden 70s.
In 2000, after three of these songs appeared on the album More Beautiful than Death, Francis Falceto, the producer of Ethiopian Groove, contacted Gershon and eventually arranged an invitation for the E/O to play at the Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa in 2004. Along with Indo-British singer Susheela Raman the same year, the E/O was the first non-Ethiopian artist to appear in the festival, and was the first US big band to appear in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington's in 1973.
Their concert at the festival was recorded and ultimately appeared in Falceto's Ethiopiques series on the French Buda Musique label.
Five Ethiopian guests appear on the recording: Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekurya, Tsedenia Markos, Bahta Hewet and Michael Belayneh. This tour and recording have led to an ongoing collaboration with Astatke, the primary founder of Ethiopian jazz, concerts with Ethiopian expatriates singer Hana Shenkute, krar player Minale Dagnew, masinko player Setegn Atanaw, and the great Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed with whom E/O released a DVD in 2007.
Mahmoud Ahmed and fellow legendary Ethiopian singer Alemayehu Eshete played Lincoln Center Out of Doors in 2008 backed by E/O.
The group debuted a collaboration with vocalist Teshome Mitiku in the summer of 2010, including a headlining appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival.
It is an almost vehement strong voice that shakes the listener from the outset, Korahu ( Proud ), one also entered the international scene of the young Selamnesh Zemene with this second album of Breton septet. Fascinated by the sound of horns and electric guitars Addis Ababa 1960s and mid -70 , with its international tours with the two biggest stars of swing Abyssinian , Mahmoud Ahmed and Alèmayèhu Eshèté, the Badume 's Band puts his sax , clarinet , guitar, bass, drums and Hammond organ service resounding song Selamnesh, new revelation of the Ethiopian capital.
Selamnesh descended from a line of azmaris, griots, nomads of the region of Gondar, the former capital of Ethiopia, known for its cultural and artistic influence. A past that inspired the singer to his choice of themes, often its ancestral musical modes to the example of this rhythm Wedding Dance fever makes the first track. A festive fervor found in Ketew Abew (where it is beautiful) , an ode to the origins of ululating, a copper piece to perfection with a guitar that turns. Sometimes the dance groove of Ethio - jazz Badume 's Band, supports voice that pierces surprisingly that such divas du Sahel , as evidenced by this blues rock dominated by brass Sentun Ayehu Banjte meaning with you I have seen all the colors ( sic) .
Much of the ten tracks ( ncluding two instrumentals, Antchi Bizu , way cool jazz, and Alemnesh, a gently catchy ballad ), are also blues, exhilarating as lamentos Ale Gena (there is) a song morello seasoned, music with jazz accents, a little funky . While Tezeta Duga Aggayú (memory), despite its rock guitar remains a sorrow song marked by ululating, like nagging complaint Sabiyé a composition of the famous singer and actress Asnaqètch Worqu , disappeared in September 2011, seventy-six years , inspiring Mahmoud Ahmed.
Moreover, Selamnesh takes another standard Abyssinian Heritage Mela Mela solution , the tube that was made known to the world Mahmoud Ahmed in the 1980s , traditional inspiration, such a sweet haunting trance, a collective prayer.
01. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Korahu (5:58)
02. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Ale Gena (5:45)
03. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Tezeta Duga Aggayu (7:45)
04. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Ketew Abew (5:47)
05. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Mela mela (6:53)
06. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Antchi Bizu (3:30)
07. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Minjar (6:39)
08. Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zemene - Sabiyé (6:16)
1. Getatchew Mekuria - intro the convoy tour dvd (4:13) 2. Getatchew Mekuria - the ex & getatchew mekuria (7:06) 3. Getatchew Mekuria - the ex & han bennink in ziway, ethiopia (5:47) 4. Getatchew Mekuria - the ex at lincoln center, part 1 (3:55)
