Mahmoud Ahmed with Ibex Band - Jeguol Naw Betwa [1978, reissue 2011] [ethiopia]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

           Mississippi records continues their tradition of re-releasing obscure and out of print music from all around the world, this time tackling legendary Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed.  

       Apparently this album of blistering african pop had never been reissued since it's original pressing, so I'm quite thankful that Mississippi did the legwork and got this back out into the ears of everyone. 

       Mahmoud Ahmed is the greatest Ethiopian singer of all time. His recordings with the Ibex Band are proper sweet, even awesome. This album, first released in 1978, is a world music classic. Album has been remastered quite brilliantly by Tim Stollenwerk. 

      

       Recorded at the end of the 'golden age' of Ethiopian urban music, Mahmoud is in top form belting out transcendent intense vocals over the Ibex Bands' hypnotic soulful horns, organs, guitars, bass & percussion. As good as it gets & as close to universally perfect music as ever has been made.

1. Mahmoud Ahmed - Bemin Sebeb Litlash / (4:30)
2. Mahmoud Ahmed - Anwedim Tekatin / (5:21)
3. Mahmoud Ahmed - Gebtewat Yihon Fikrien (5:46)
4. Mahmoud Ahmed - Jeguol Naw Betwa (3:34)
5. Mahmoud Ahmed - Endet Lilakek (4:16)
6. Mahmoud Ahmed - Neshtie / (5:16)
7. Mahmoud Ahmed - Fetsum Dink Lij Nesh / (4:41)
8. Mahmoud Ahmed - Hoy Na-Na Jegnaw Na / (4:40)
9. Mahmoud Ahmed - Marie Gela / (4:37)

Les Siestes Electroniques au Quai Branly [2012-07-22] - mixtape by Marc Teissier du Cros

Les Siestes Electroniques au Quai Branly, 22/07/2012

Mixtape by Marc Teissier du Cros

featuring : 

Alemu Aga

Tesfa Maryam Kidane

Mahmoud Ahmed

Bahta Gebre-Heywet

Tilahun Gessesse

Hailu Mergia & The Walias Band

Alemayehu Eshete

Mulatu Astatke

Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed

145 mb @320kbps - 1: 01: 52 min

Feedel Band - various songs [usa+eth]

        Feedel Band is a Washington DC based Ethio-Jazz Band and has been performing as a self contained unit, as well as supporting Ethiopian artists like Tilahun Gessesse, (The king of Ethiopian pop music), very recently with Aster Aweke (The queen of Ethiopian soul music) on her current “Ewedihalehu” or "I love you" US tour.

       Feedel band’s is founded in 2010 by Araya Woldemichael, and weeks later, his current band members joined him and together they have formed the first native Ethiopian group in north America as an Ethio -jazz music-oriented band that starred Moges Habte on Sax, Alemseged Kebede on Electric bass, Araya Woldemichael on keyboards and Samson Juffar on drums. After Samson Juffar’s departure to Ethiopia, drummer and percussionist Mikias Abebayehu took Samson’s place. In addition to guitarist Kaleb Temesgen and  drummer J , Trombonist Ben Hall and krarist Minale Bezu, the band found Its own and a very unique Ethio - jazz  sound. 

       Feedel or (alphabet) are Ge’ez script and a unique Ethiopian characters that are entirely phonetic structured in seven columns. In other words, each character in the Geez Feedel system has seven sounds. Feedel are not only a dazzling of human creativity but also, in practical terms, a powerful medium for communication and social interaction. The power of Feedel resides in the characters ability to represent virtually every sound. The ancient Ethiopians, who invented Ethiopic writing system, were poised, it seems, to capture and harness all sounds in the universe.

Feedel Band - Belhame

            Since 1997 the Éthiopiques series has made Ethiopian music a hipster obsession, exposing jazz heads and rockists to the jazzy funkiness that emanated from East Africa in the ’60s and ’70s. (Never heard of the collection? You may have heard songs from Volume 4—there are now 29 volumes in total—in Jim Jarmusch’s 2005 film Broken Flowers.) 

             Feedel’s sax player Moges who was born in Addis Ababa, and can be heard performing the funky James Brown Band-influenced cut “Muziqawi Silt” on Éthiopiques’ Volume 13 with his ’70s group The Walias Band. On the other hand Feedel's bass player Alemseged  Kebede's great  groovy bass lines can be found in Aster Aweke and Tilahune Gessesse's music. Feedel Band’s sound can best be described as a merging of ’60s R&B, funk and jazz with traditional Ethiopian songcraft. 

Feedel Band - Araya's Mood

       Feedel Band is taking Ethiopian music and Jazz, and blending it into a simmering stew of musical genre’s, textures and feeling. These boys have real feel – for their music, for their audience and for each other. Playing with maturity and passion is second nature to all of them ... 

       Feedel band has devoted much of a creative career spanning almost 20 years to this eternal, inspiring form - the very base and roots of Ethio-jazz.... gather inspiration from The Golden Age of Ethiopian popular music in the late 1960s and 70s— a time that had Addis Ababa littered with groups playing a brass-heavy concoctions influenced by American soul and jazz. So here they are, as enthusiastic as ever - Ethiopian's finest, most skilled practitioners in the art of the Ethiopian music. They take their newly created original pentatonic melodies and repurpose them with mutated instrumentation like 60s and 70s-era Ethiopian grooves: Congas, electric Guitar, Bass, Saxophone, traditional Krar, Masinko, Piano, Organ, Trombone and Drums. 

     What sets Feedel Band apart from other acts that play Ethio-Jazz style of music is that they commonly hybridize the regular Jazz style with Ethio-Jazz genres, or modernized the sound with out loosing its original traditional texture or feeling. The energy and power is overwhelming. They are creating and in some cases re-creating the musical language of what has been called Ethio -Jazz. 

      Since the bands inception, the reception that Feedel has received has been extraordinary. At FestAfrica 2011, APAP showcase "Drom" New York City, World cafe live Philadelphia, Global roots festival Minneapolis, MN and  most recently at The Kennedy Center in 2014 and the audience was enamored with their warm and engaging style. While their music is inspired by the Golden Age of Ethiopian popular music, but Feedel Band always perform their own original music. 

       Their newly released CD is called “Ethiopian Ocean” 

                           Feedel Band on Soundcloud : here   

   Feedel Band official site : here   

01 - Feedel Band - Tropicalia 8-2-14 (6:21)

02 - Feedel Band - Araya's Mood (8:24)

03 - Feedel Band - Girl from Ethiopia (7:35)

04 - Feedel Band - Ethiopian Ocean (Ye Ethiopia Baher) (10:32)

05 - Feedel Band - Behelme (5:54)

06 - Feedel Band - Feedel Band (8:01)

07 - Feedel Band - Mestafaker (6:41)

v.a. - The Ethiopian Millennium Collection - CD2 - Ballads [2007] [ethiopia]

Disc 2: The Ethiopian Millennium Collection - Ballads

        Relax and enjoy these sometimes melancholy, often nostalgic but always soothing ballads.

       The golden age of Ethiopian popular music (as heard on the fabled ETHIOPIQUES series) is famous in part for the sparsity of material that it yielded: The state-owned recording industry was largely a ramshackle government vanity, and while music of the music it captured was strikingly haunting, only a few dozen tracks were recorded in the 1960s and '70s... 

Muluken Mellesse - Minew Kerefede

       Since then, the floodgates have opened as Ethiopia has more or less entered the modern world -- more artists are making and recording more music than was dreamed possible back in the politically repressive "good old days," and the fruits of this renaissance are heard on this 6-CD set. 

     Each of these discs is also sold separately, and each centers on a general theme -- one for ballads, one of traditional music (which is quite nice), a disc's worth of contemporary dance music and one of "chic-chic-ka" rhythm, a popular modern style. There are also two discs worth of instrumental music -- one featuring recent recordings of more traditional themes is quite nice, while the other has a contemporary feel and is closer to modern "smooth jazz." 

      The tracks are from the late 1990s and early '00s -- the artists are generally younger, more modern musicians, although a few old-timers like Mahmoud Ahmed are still alive and kicking, and sound as cool as ever. Although this collection doesn't have the same eerie power as the '70s-era recordings, anyone who got into the ETHIOPIQUES discs will want to check this out as well, to see where the music has gone since then.

01 - Mahmoud Ahmed - Tizita (11:08)

02 - Theodros Tadese - Zimita (6:27)

03 - Hamelmal Abate - Djimire (6:41)

04 - Alemayehu Eshete - Kehak Atsewirugn (5:22)

05 - Dawit Melllesse - Firejign (6:16)

06 - Rahel Yohannes - Tizita (6:11)

07 - Theodros Kassahun - Kezebiye (5:53)

08 - Hirut Girma - Nefs Neh (5:54)

09 - Muluken Mellesse - Minew Kerefede (8:22)

10 - Hana Shenkute - Tefagn Bilihatu (5:41)

11 - Mahmoud Ahmed - Teyikesh (6:34)

Haileye Tadese - Fikir [2012] [ethiopia]

Haileye Tadesse - Enem Lazimelesh Dire

01 - Haileye Tadese - Eskemeche (እስከመቼ) (5:12)
02 - Haileye Tadese - Fikir Ene ena Anchi (ፍቅር እኔ እና አንቺ) (5:41)
03 - Haileye Tadese - Are Min Bewetan (ኧረ ምን በወጣን) (5:28)
04 - Haileye Tadese - Eyamu Tselot (እያሙ ፀሎት) (4:44)
05 - Haileye Tadese - EndeAfish Yadrgew (እንደ አፍሽ ያድርገው) (5:00)
06 - Haileye Tadese - Yawim Keftogn (ያውም ከፍቶኝ) (4:34)
07 - Haileye Tadese - Enem Lazimilish (እኔም ላዚምልሽ) (5:20)
08 - Haileye Tadese - Enchi Ejen Michi (እንቺ እጄን ምቺ) (4:32)
09 - Haileye Tadese - Min Litinegrign New (ምን ልትነግሪኝ ነው) (5:38)
10 - Haileye Tadese - Fikir Kirbu Menged (ፍቅር ቅርቡ መንገድ) (4:14)
11 - Haileye Tadese - Meche Tefan Egna (መቼ ጠፋን እኛ) (4:53)
12 - Haileye Tadese - Kuru Nech Nefsua (ኩሩ ነች ነፍሷ) (3:58)

Arki Sound - Arki Sound [2015] [usa+eth]

Arki Sound

Arki Sound - 'Jazeta' (Tezeta)

Influenced by the classic recordings made in Ethiopia in the 1960s and 1970s, Arki Sound performs music for your dancing and listening pleasure.

01 - Arki Sound - Bemen Sebeb Letlash (5:31)

02 - Arki Sound - Ere Mela Mela Dubby Spoil (2:51)

03 - Arki Sound - Ere Mela Mela (5:02)

04 - Arki Sound - Gaddis Addis (4:18)

05 - Arki Sound - Hedetch Alew (3:26)

06 - Arki Sound - Jazeta Love a Dub in Outer Space (5:29)

07 - Arki Sound - Jezeta (6:32)

08 - Arki Sound - Kulun Mankwalesh (5:22)

Formed in New York City in 2009, Arki Sound consists of:

Marcus Cummins - alto and soprano saxophones
Frank Marino - drum kit
Samson Kebede - bass
George Taylor - guitar
Andy JordanTexas - tenor (emeritus)