Dereje Degefaw is an Ethiopian born Amharic singer currently residing in Washington, USA - whose songs include "Sima Yebekashal", "Literater" and "Yelijinet Hilme" familiar to many Ethiopian in the diaspora and at home.
This incredible recording was made available courtesy of John at Likembe. Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication unearthing great music!
From Likembe ...
I've said this before, but I'll repeat it: The coolest blog out there is Frank Soulpusher's Voodoo Funk. Frank travels throughout West Africa digging up old obscure soul and funk records by local musicians. He posts mixes of his discoveries that usually have me dropping my jaw in wonderment. . . Whaaaa?
Of course, West Africa wasn't the only place that was obsessed with American-style R&B. Every African country had its own practitioners, some of them quite original. Ethiopia in particular created its own fusion of soul and traditional music that has drawn international acclaim.
Twenty years ago I thought that Somalia was immune to the funk virus. There was one recording of Somali music on the market, Original Music's Jaamila (OMA 107, 1987), recordings of oud, flute and voice that were interesting but not especially funky. Somali friends loaned me static-filled cassettes of artists like Sahra Axmed and others that were in a similar vein. There was a wildly-popular genre of home-made cassettes of recitations of Somali poetry. I began to wonder if there even was such a thing as modern Somali music at all.
Then my friend Ali handed me a cassette, an over-the-counter Sanyo stamped "Iftin." No case, no track listing; Ali couldn't even tell me anything about the group Iftin. He thought they may have been from northern Somalia, possibly from Djibouti or the Somali-speaking part of Ethiopia. But they definitely made modern Somali music.
Since this was first posted, we have heard from a Mr. Saanag, who provides much valuable information on Iftin. He writes:
Iftin ("Sunshine") was a big hit in Somalia in the 70's and 80's. Initially, they made theaters & schools "unsafe" with their brand of (slow) dance music and later discotheques & marriage ceremonies were conquered. It's one of the bands initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture and they were based in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where most of the band members originally came from. The lead singer with the "Woweeee!" hair is a Somali of Yemenite origins (does his Yemeni ancestry shed a little light on your remark?). He's called Shimaali and some of his solo efforts are on YouTube.Before I gave the tape back to Ali I dubbed it onto a 10-inch tape reel at WYMS-FM, where I used to do my radio program "African Beat." When I stopped doing the show in 2001 I had no way to listen to it, until now. I recently rented a reel-to-reel tape deck and have digitized it, so now I can give it to you!
The "cassette cover" is an elaborate hoax. The picture on the front is taken from an album by Orlando Owoh from Nigeria, also taken from Likembe blog
01 - Iftin Band - Gabar ii Noqee (Be my wife) (5:54)
02 - Iftin Band - Codkeennii Kala Halow (Our voices have lost each other) (3:55)
Tezeta Band is the sound of memory, of nostalgia, of sweaty soulful dance music, part jazz, part motown, part Ethiopian folk music, inspired by and arranged from the Golden Age of Ethiopian music, the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Imagine James Brown, Elvis Presley, and John Coltrane merged into one sound, one source, melting together in the clubs and lounges of Ethiopia.
Tezeta Bandis a musical reunion of The Five Fingers of Funk (Talbott Guthrie-drums, Ted Hille - Saxophone, Tim Cook - Keyboards, Curt Bieker - Trombone & Josh Prewitt - Trumpet) formed in 1992 with rapper Pete Miser. For nearly ten years, the Five Fingers were the premier 100% Live Northwest Hip-Hop experience that rocked stages from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine and opened for such acts as De La Soul, The Roots, Maceo Parker, Fishbone,Run DMC, Digital Underground, Bootsy Collins and The Greyboy Allstars.
Now, with the help of Brent Martens (From Asylum Street Spankers and currently the Escapists, Royal Motel Orchestra, and Duo Royale) and Bassist/Composer John Teagle. In 2006 the idea for the band came after a few members came across the Ethiopiques CD series and were inspired to put together a weekly session based on this music. Quickly realizing that they were on to a new challenge that was both exciting and unique, the band was formed and has evolved since.
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.
