Amhara Wedding Songs - feat Lemma G. Hiwot, Selamawit G. Selassie and Zenebech Tesfaye
Originally released on Philips Ethiopia in 1973, this seemingly impossible to find LP is available once again to the lucky humans of the world.
With a mix of modern and traditional instruments these fourteen songs go through the progression of an Ethiopian Amhara wedding sung in Amharic. With the trio of singers, Lemma G. Hiwot, Zenebech Tesfaye, and Selamawit G. Selassie, alternating turns at the microphone, and sharing call and response duties, a relentless frenzy of hand clapping incites dancing and smiles. The consumption of tedj (honeywine) and the swirling love of a wedding was captured in the studio with euphoric energy to take away to play over and over again when the festivities are over. With hand screened covers and an insert of wedding photos accompanying the liner notes, this is the next best thing to an invitation to the real thing.
Originally released on Philips Ethiopia in 1973. A co-release with Mitmitta Musika of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.
Sketches of Ethiopia is, extraordinarily, the first album Mulatu Astatke, the godfather of Ethio-jazz, has recorded with his own band for an international label of influence. It has been a long time coming and it is a corker.
Astatke, on vibraphone and keyboards, is accompanied by his regular touring band, Step Ahead, which has at its core A-list British jazz musicians—among them, trumpeter Byron Wallen, drummer Tom Skinner,
bassist John Edwards and reed player James Arden. Step Ahead’s 12-piece line-up also includes players of traditional Ethiopian instruments including the masinko (one-string lute), krar (lyre) and washint (bamboo flute).
In addition, there are half a dozen guest musicians, who include rising Malian vocalist Fatoumata Diawara, who sings on the final track.
The album, a mix of originals and arrangements of traditional Ethiopian tunes, is generally hotter and more urgent than you would expect from Astatke’s classic early 1970s recordings. That vibe is revisited on two tracks: “Gumuz,” a traditional melody given a laid back, West Coast jazz-funk arrangement, and Astatke’s “Motherland Abay,” a showcase for the Ethiopian instruments. Elsewhere the album reflects Step Ahead’s up-tempo, dance-friendly live approach. The material is largely through-written and the emphasis is on the ensemble, as always with Astatke: composer/arrangers Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn were prominent among his formative jazz influences. Born in 1943, Astatke studied in Britain and the US in the 1960s. He returned to Ethiopia towards the end of the decade, in the dog days of Haile Selassie’s imperial rule. State control of the music business was weakening and a handful of enthusiasts were setting up independent labels which the expiring regime lacked the energy to close down. But the audience for Astatke’s music was small, for Ethiopia had no broad tradition of instrumental music. In 1974 a military junta, the Derg, ousted Selassie and seized power. Under the Derg, Ethiopia’s fledgling music business was suppressed. Internationally, Astatke’s fortunes improved in the late 1990s, when the Paris-based label Buda Musique launched its Ethiopiques reissue series. Volume four, Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale 1969—1974, released in 1998, comprised album tracks and singles recorded by Astatke either under his own name or as arranger/bandleader. People began to pick up on Ethio-jazz, among them US movie director Jim Jarmusch, who featured Astatke’s 1970s recordings prominently on the soundtrack of Broken Flowers (2005). In the film’s wake, Astatke toured and recorded with the Heliocentrics and Either/Orchestra. In 2010, Mochilla released Timeless, recorded in concert in the US with leading local players. Sketches of Ethiopia is essentially Astatke and Step Ahead’s live set performed in the studio by an expanded line-up. It makes the transition with resounding success. Personnel: Step Ahead: Mulatu Astatke: vibraphone, piano, keyboards; Yohanes Afwork: washint; James Arben: flute, oboe, tenor saxophone, clarinet; Messale Asmamow: krar; Richard Olatunde Baker: percussion; John Edwards: double bass, bass; Indris Hassun: masinko; Alexander Hawkins: piano, keyboards; Danny Keane: keyboards, cello; Tom Skinner: drums; Tesfaye: lead vocals (2, 4, 6); Byron Wallen: trumpet. Guests: Fatoumata Diawara: lead vocals (8); Francois Cordas: tenor saxophone (5); Kandia Kora: kora (2, 4, 7); Eric Longsworth: cello (5); Jean-Baptiste Saint-Martin: guitar (2, 5, 6); Francois Verly: percussion (2-8); Memeru: choir leader
2010 release, a superb Funk/Hip-Hop album from the Australian bandBlack Jesus Experience - Yelluinta fuses an irresistible blend of traditional Ethiopian song and 21st Century groove. The rhymes and chimes of the band deliver the musical strength and beauty of Africa through the vocal prism of Hip-Hop and freedom of Jazz.
01 - The Black Jesus Experience - Arada (3:49)
02 - The Black Jesus Experience - Guraginya (4:18)
03 - The Black Jesus Experience - Don't Cry For The Fallen (4:41)
04 - The Black Jesus Experience - Yeluinta (5:05)
05 - The Black Jesus Experience - Lonnie's Lament-Dawitt Abatachew (5:15)
06 - The Black Jesus Experience - Let's Call Her (2:46)
07 - The Black Jesus Experience - Bohemia (5:38)
Black Jesus Experience(BJX)is an 8 piece band playing an irresistibly danceable blend of traditional Ethiopian song and 21st Century groove. As diverse as the 5 continents the members of 'BJX' hail from, their music reflects the multicultural vibrancy of the band's hometown, Melbourne, Australia.
When not touring BJX run a weekly session at cultural hub The Horn where BJX create new songs live on stage. The comfort BJX has with this practice lies in the improvising traditions of that feed BJX including Hip Hop, Jazz, Azmari and Rutu Pa'u.
The music is also fed quite literally before each performance by the ritual of a group meal prepared by singer Enushu and MD Peter Harper in the Ethiopian tradition, "those who eat from the same plate will not betray each other". This inspires and reinforces bonds musical, social and spiritual, bonds BJX invite their audiences to join.
Enushu began entertaining her local community as a child in Addis Ababa. Forced to leave Ethiopia, Enushu migrated to Australia bringing hauntingly beautiful compositions inspired by her remarkable life story and the unique vocal traditions of Ethiopia. Enushu is joined on vocals by poetic giant and lyrical miracle The Monk, Zimbabwe born and Outback bred.
Highlights for BJX include two tours of "the Motherland" Ethiopia, performing with Ethiojazz legend Mulatu Astatke in Europe and Australia (an association which won BJX and Mulatu "The Age Best Tour" award) Glastonbury and other great festivals.
The rhymes and chimes of Black Jesus Experience deliver the power and beauty of Africa through the vocal prism of Hip-Hop and freedom of Funk.
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