Selam Seyoum - In Memory of Tekle Tesfazghi [1995] [eritrea]

       Selam Seyoum Woldemariam, also known as "Selamino", is an African musician who has turned out 250 (mostly locally produced) albums in his more than forty years as a professional musician. He has been called “The Jimi Hendrix of Ethiopia” and is a national legend.

In Memory Of Tekle Tesfazghi - Kemdilayey

Early life

             Selam Seyoum Woldemariam was born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, in 1954 to a director-teacher father, Seyoum Woldemariam Kidane, and an assistant teacher-housewife mother, Tsirha Nemariam. 

        The family moved to Asmara, Eritrea, in 1965 and stayed there throughout his childhood (c. 1965–1972). While in Addis Ababa, his father worked in a school run by American missionaries. They brought various records of spiritual songs; Woldemariam and his siblings studied some of the songs and sang them at the Mekane Yesus Church in Addis Ababa. The family owned an acoustic guitar, and while each of his siblings tried to learn, he was the most disciplined in his musical study. 

        During the mid-1960s, Woldemariam formed a church music quintet choir group in Asmara at "Geza Kenisha", which became popular and pulled hundreds of followers to the church where they performed. Later, they included a Swedish drummer but the sound eventually became too noisy for the elderly congregation and they had to discontinue playing. 

            Woldemariam returned to Addis Ababa in 1972 and finished high school. This was at the height of the Ethiopian Civil War and classes in most schools, including Addis Ababa University (AAU) were disrupted. Soon, all higher learning institutions were closed, while students and staff were forced to join the national campaign (Idget Behibret). With the AAU closed, Woldemariam could no longer continue his education.

         Woldemariam later returned and graduated with a BA in History from AAU in 1988. He wrote his senior essay on Ethiopian music: "Origin and Development of Zemenawi Music in Ethiopia, 1896-1974”.

BSB Ibex and ROHA

       He joined The Black Soul Band (BSB) while they were on tour in Addis Ababa in 1973. Alemayehu Eshete and Slim Jones were the main vocalists of the group and together with Tesfaye Lemma of Orchestra Ethiopia, they travelled to various parts of Ethiopia. Towards mid-1974, Woldemariam and some other members of BSB joined the Venus club. 

        After working for a year or so at the Venus, Woldemariam replaced Zimbabwean Ibex Band guitar player Andrew Wilson at the Ras Hotel. During that time, Ibex was dominated by two foreign musicians: Ismail Jingo, vocalist and percussionist and Andrew Wilson, lead guitarist. At the time, most foreigners were leaving Ethiopia due to the revolution and Jingo and Wilson couldn’t stay. As a result, the band re-formed as Ibex (II) with the inclusion of some new members. 

        Mahmoud Ahmed was already in the group. The first recording the group did was his Ere Mela Mela album (LP) around 1975, which was later to become their first ever CD in Ethiopian history, released by a good friend, Francis Falceto on his Ethiopiques series. (Ethiopiques # 7). Ibex disbanded in 1979 as most of its members left for the Sudan, while Mahmoud left for the US. The remaining three members, Giovanni Rico, Fekadu Andemeskel and Selam Woldemariam, formed ROHA Band. The Ibex and ROHA Band dominated the music of the 1970s and 80s. They arranged and recorded well over 250 albums (2500 songs), accompanying various Ethiopian vocalists. From 1980 to 1990, The ROHA Band travelled extensively, throughout Europe, Middle East and the USA as well as to some parts of Africa. Mulatu Astatke joined the ROHA Band at the Paris and Spain summer shows in 1987.

Recent and current work

     During 2000, Woldemariam moved to the US, and started collaboration on the Power of The Trinity project with the Brooklyn-based Tomas Doncker Band. Besides co-writing and playing guitar on some tunes, Woldemariam is also involved as a production consultant. He has performed with the group at various venues. They will be performing together in a long-awaited show at the New York Summer stage in July and August. 

       Woldemariam is in the process of expanding his thesis paper on Ethiopian music and gathering together a book based on his over forty years of experience in music. He is also working on an instrumental album.

01 - Selam Seyoum - Tsibuk Zigebr (5:16)

02 - Selam Seyoum - Mistirawi Debdabe (4:38)

03 - Selam Seyoum - Nbaat Temeghibe (7:16)

04 - Selam Seyoum - Kokobey Kokobki (5:15)

05 - Selam Seyoum - Ningerom Nisdrana (4:27)

06 - Selam Seyoum - Fikrey Telemeni (4:42)

07 - Selam Seyoum - Kemdilayey (6:47)

08 - Selam Seyoum - Kewakhbti (5:26)

09 - Selam Seyoum - Shewit Hidmona (3:51)

Samson Kidane & Band - Gelassenheit [2012] [germany+eritrea]

Samson Kidane - The krar has saved my life

       His instrument has saved his life. Samson Kidane agrees his krar, the national instrument of his native Eritrea.

       His language is Tigrinya. His thoughts are cosmopolitan. His music is universal. And his instrument has saved his life. Samson Kidane (47) sits on his sofa and playing on the krar. "I've been so long in Germany, that I sometimes call myself Kölscher Negroes."

SAMSON KIDANE BAND - Mesiluni (I thought)

       Kidane is one of about 25 000 people from Eritrea, who had to leave their country in the 1980s. He was eleven when he became a soldier and went against the Ethiopian government in the war. "I was a freedom fighter, not a child soldier. Like all boys of my age. The war was all over the country. No one could before fleeing." Child soldiers since Kidane is quite convinced there has never been in Eritrea. "None of us has been forced to kill." An eleven year old who draws freely in the fight? Let the simply are. The discussion can not carry on. 

     Five bullets hit Kidane, the child, in a raid on the camp of his unit to which he has come only because there was no one there who could play the krar. "I was previously in another group. They were all killed in another battle. "

  
Kidane survived the raid. You can do it because he is considered dead. Civilians find him, bring him to his people. Samson, the child is treated and transported to Sudan. Doctors from the Swedish Red Cross operate on him. "I had to be operated on a second time. I could come to Cologne because my aunt lived here. Then am here still. "He had been just happy to finally be able to sleep in peace again," that no one in the street shooting at me and I can finally live like a human again. Everything else, my stranger here was completely unimportant."

       Enough of the past, says Samson Kidane, the musicians. Because his lyrics and poems have less to do with what he had as a child as with the wars that are now out in the name of religion between Christians and Muslims experience during the war. "At home," said Samson, "were never made differences between Christians and Muslims. Until I came to Germany, I did not know enmity between Christians and Muslims."  

     Kidanes music combines his African roots with modern musical styles, reggae, hip-hop and rock. In the songs is about justice, repression, solidarity. "The man is crazy, a skilled Doof," it says in the title song of the CD "Serenity".

       

       A trained Goofy. That sounds resigned. But Kidane is the opposite of that, he once had its own cleaning company, organizes festivals and symposia, mixed in the cultural scene of the city. He calls the network, including a Cologne'd say cliques, and he tried his sons Aminadab (14) and Meron (10) to give a taste of home. "You do not know Eritrea yes. I have to ensure that they can speak in their mother tongue. It's their native language. "

      Kidane says this because it's happened to him in similar reason. He was 14 when he came to Germany - and has the theme of integration is a very personal opinion. "I have problems with foreigners who want to be more German than the Germans." For people from Africa it was much more difficult to gain a foothold in Germany. "I think you still do not take us seriously because we regulate much easy with each other." That had a lot to do with the cohesion. The Africans in Cologne were a secret society and it was "very sad that there are no African center in Cologne." What surprised him the discussions that will be conducted, for example, about the many people of Turkish origin. "I think it's almost insulting. Who have grown up here, speak sometimes even Kölsch. The integrated, maybe they live just different. "

       How Kidane, whose music is well known in the opposition his home. He is a cosmopolitan who is looking for the linking between cultures. 

    Kidane himself sees the sober. He once strangers left on a tour through the immigrant milieu in Cologne in his apartment, which have gone on a world tour in your own town.

01 - Samson Kidane & Band - Mehaza (4:34)

02 - Samson Kidane & Band - Gelassenheit (3:49)

03 - Samson Kidane & Band - Ihre anwesenheit (3:14)

04 - Samson Kidane & Band - Sein (4:07)

05 - Samson Kidane & Band - Gefangnis (5:29)

06 - Samson Kidane & Band - Gefahrliche Liebe (3:23)

07 - Samson Kidane & Band - Ich Dachte (2:42)

08 - Samson Kidane & Band - Gerechtigkeit (6:37)

09 - Samson Kidane & Band - Der Mensch ist Wertvoll (5:52)

10 - Samson Kidane & Band - Musika (3:28)

v.a. - [2009] - Southern Ethiopia - music of the Maale [praises and blessings] [ethiopia]

Maale are one the 40 ethnic groups of southern Ethiopia. 

The Maale music is very rich. It encompasses a cappella polyphonic singing, vocal polyphonies accompanied on the lyre, whistled polyphonies, solo flute playing, flute orchestras, horns, drums, and it displays a great originality in the vocal and instrumental techniques. 

For the Maale, music is the mean of a constant exchange between generations. The youngest ('children') praises the eldest ('fathers') and the eldest bless the youngest. Thus the music appears as a strong factor of social cohesion.

01 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Maale Zoro (2:44)

02 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Andalko (5:05)

03 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Abi (4:01)

04 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Dami (4:03)

05 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Irbe wala (2:37)

06 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Haya Haya Bolado (2:46)

07 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Nay malkiti (0:52)

08 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Gaade (4:08)

09 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Meni merti (3:30)

10 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Alo be (2:07)

11 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Shulungo (0:59)

12 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Aleko (3:34)

13 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Ank'ado (1:29)

14 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Are Indo (Pele) (3:42)

15 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Are Indo (Golo) (4:57)

16 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Salo (3:03)

17 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Durungo (1:34)

18 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Irbo Nay Koysi (3:49)

19 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Be Ta Belio & Olize (4:40)

20 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Kaye (1:16)

21 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Sorayti (1:17)

22 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Makanka dorba (2:40)

23 - Southern Ethiopia - Music of the Maale - Osta (2:59)

v.a. - [2013] - The rough guide to the music of Ethiopia [cd 1] - Traveling Trough Ethiopia (Vinyl) [ethiopia]

               Whether it conjures up legendary marathon runners, the rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, richly brewed coffee, Rastafarian spirituality, tumbling waterfalls or steaming hot springs, Ethiopia is a country famed for diverse reasons. Home to 82 million residents, the landlocked country is also birthplace to a multiplex of brilliant musics.

           On this Rough Guide the ‘Golden Age’ of recorded Ethiopian music is paid homage to via tracks by seminal Ethio-jazz musicians Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete. Other handpicked gems are selected from the Ethiopiques album series produced by Francis Falceto, an aficionado and scholar of rare Ethiopian records. The energetic music of saxophone prodigy Getatchew Mekuria references the long history of military brass bands in the country fused with a thoroughly modern rock ethos.

             Dynamic London-based ensemble Krar Collective also make an appearance and rock the track ‘Ende Eyerusalem’ with their signature forthright attitude and soaring female vocals. On the track, ‘Sek’let (Crucifixion)’ Zerfu Demissie can be heard playing the begena, a large Ethiopia harp that reverberates thick and loudly, sounding almost electronic, like a futuristic synthesizer.

             The Rough Guide to Ethiopia also considers some unique fusion projects that marry traditional Ethiopian grooves with dub, rock and punk sensibilities. Dub Colossus is the lovechild of UK musician and producer Nick Page and a host of established Ethiopian artists, including vocalists Tsedenia Gebremarkos and Sintayehu ‘Mimi’ Zenebe. Their sound is amped-up classic dub while Invisible System, a band headed up by UK based producer Dan Harper, explore a more experimental and darker sound and provide the excellent bonus album also.

       This Rough Guide is soaked in the urban cool that pervades Ethiopian music, both traditional and modern. Traverse the grooves of the ancient mountain kingdom, from antique vibes to futuristic styles. 

01.Bole 2 Harlem - Ametballe (4:58)

02.Dub Colossus - Guragigna (5:13)

03.Mahmoud Ahmed - Ohoho Gedama (4:46)

04.Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests - Musicawi Silt (4:22)

05.Orchestra Ethiopia - Datchene Koba (Trio Of Emblitas) (2:26)

06.Krar Collective - Ende Eyerusalem (7:23)

07.Samuel Yirga - Abet Abet (Punt Mix) (5:11)

08.Zerfu Demissie - Sek'Let (Crucifiction) (3:22)

09.Invisible System - Ambassel (5:29)

10.Tirudel Zenebe - Gue (Wire Tapper Edit) (4:16)

11.Alemayehu Eshete - Ney-Ney Weleba (3:46)

12.Tirudel Zenebe - Gue (7:19)

13.Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed - Mela Mela (4:49)

14.Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou - Homesickness (3:51)

v.a. - [2013] - The rough guide to the music of Ethiopia [cd 2] - Introducing Invisible System [ethiopia]

[cd 2] - Introducing Invisible System

         Invisible System actually has two new records out this year, although both of them incorporate already-released material. The group's music is featured on a digital-only album issued by World Music as part of the compilation entitled The Rough Guide to Ethiopian Music. This disc features earlier material; this enables Dan Harper to welcome new listeners to his canny mix of dark dub, metal, Ethiopian pop, and techno stylings.

          Traditional-sounding songs, such as "Hode Baba (I'm Worried He's Moving)", rock along nicely, balancing jangling guitars with a rocksteady groove and lamenting vocals. On later tracks, like "Skunk Funk" - taken from their 2011 album, Street Clan, my favorite record of last year - Harper swirls things up a bit with psychedelic wah-wah work, lovely drifty melodies, and a spooky vocal performance from Tewabe Tadesse. This is also a great way to experience tracks from The Cauldron EP, including the disorienting dub spectacular "Azmari Fuze", with vocals from wonderful singer/clubowner Mimi Zenebe.

Invisible System - Gondar Sub

         

01.Invisible System - Closer To The Edge (3:36)
02.Invisible System - Gondar Sub (4:04)
03.Invisible System - Tizita (4:04)
04.Invisible System - Dark entries (6:12)
05.Invisible System - Skunk funk (4:33)
06.Invisible System - Azmari fuse (6:41)
07.Invisible System - Maljam kehnoelish (If this is what you want) (4:05)
08.Invisible System - Oumabetty (3:15)
09.Invisible System - Hode baba (I'm worried he's moving) (5:58)
10.Invisible System - Mama yey (5:56)
11.Invisible System - Fiten azorkugn (I turned my face away) (5:49)



   reviews   

The Introducing series has brought some fabulous artists to wider attention. Its latest is a digital- only release of producer and musician Dan Harper's Invisible System. He's a former aid worker who settled in Ethiopia, built a studio and invited some of the country's finest musicians to step inside. He then returned with the tapes to the UK and introduced them to an eclectic range of British musicians.

Introducing comprises four new songs alongside seven from 2009's Punt (nominated for a 2010 Songlines Award), last year's Street Clan, and recent The Cauldron. The line-up includes Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed (whose vocal on the blues 'If This Is What You Want' is glorious), pianist Samuel Yirga and Justin Adams, as well as Dub Colossus vocalists Tsedenia Gebre Markos, Mimi Zenebe and Desta Firka. Two fast, tight new songs, 'Closer to the Edge' and 'Gondar Sub', start it off, while Tizita's powerful vocal is set to a shady, shimmering semi-electronic backdrop, and the new 'Dark Entries' mixes Ethiopian fiddle with a lean chiming guitar. 'Azmari Fuse' sets what sounds like a field recording under a canopy of layered voices, reverb and Ethiopian fiddle. Fusion can be a messy business, but by assiduously mining several deep veins, this is a well-cut gem, bringing flavours of reggae, trip-hop, dub, post-punk and psychedelia to a strong and pungent Éthiopiques core.

Tim Cumming

A note of caution: despite the title, this is not the first offering from this adventurous fusion project, and you could have heard many of the songs before. Introducing… draws from Invisible System's two previous albums, Punt and Street Clan, as well as The Cauldron EP, and adds some good extra material.

Currently a download-only affair, Introducing… will be released on CD in September, as a "bonus" album with the new Rough Guide to Ethiopia. But it's well worth checking out now if you've not heard Invisible System before.

A boldly unusual project, the man behind it all is Dan Harper. A former aid worker in Ethiopia, Harper built his own studio and persuaded several of the country's best musicians to record with him. Back in England, he asked a wide selection of British musicians to contribute, with Harper on guitar, bass, percussion and programming.

Results, for the most part, are impressive, with the African recordings matched against settings that range from dub reggae to trip hop and psychedelic rock.

Though there were sections on the Street Clan album where the Ethiopians were almost lost in the exuberant musical blitz, Harper manages to avoid such problems here: the backing is assured and at times even restrained, though still highly original.

The Ethiopian musicians include the great Mahmoud Ahmed (whose compelling voice can be heard on Maljam Kehnoelish), along with pianist Samuel Yirga and singers Tsedenia Gebre Markos and Mimi Zenebe of Dub Colossus. The British players include Justin Adamsand Ed Wynne.

Introducing… presents considerable variety, with songs like Oumabetty dominated by powerful Ethiopian female vocals, set against a rumbling bassline, while on Skunk Funk the vocals are set against a slinky groove. Gondar Sub finds African singing dissected by slashing, reggae-influenced guitar lines, and there's more reggae on the upbeat Mama Yey, which includes Jamaican-style toasting.

The closer, Fiten Azorkugn, sounds more mainstream and contemporary, though it's dressed up with throbbing bass and percussion. All told, this is impressively original stuff.

Robin Denselow 2012-07-27

It makes perfect sense that World Music Network would put out a second edition of The Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia. The first, in 2004, was a near-perfect sampler comprised of classic tracks from the Ethiopiques collections. Volume 2 goes further, showcasing not only Golden Age performers like Mahmoud Ahmed and Orchestra Ethiopia but also several fusions of those old time sounds with other genres, ideas and players from outside Ethiopia. Thus we are treated to sax great Getatchew Mekuria jamming through a new version of that great standard "Musicawi Silt" accompanied by Dutch band The Ex, the funk/hip hop leanings of Bole 2 Harlem, Krar Collective's tart mix of ancient lyre riffs and modern attitude, Tirudel Zenbe's interpretation of traditional rhythms for contemporary dance floors, solo piano brilliance from Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou (who got her start way back in the 1940s) and much more, including a hot bonus disc by Anglo-Ethiopian outfit Invisible System, who mix familiar Ethiopian modes with techno, dub and all manner of sonic experimentation. Wild, wonderful and very highly recommended.

World Music Central Review

The latest of the label's unlabeled updates/Second Editions/Volume 2s of national overviews they did well by the first time (catalogue number: 1286CD) favors 21st-century material whether it's quinquagenarian Dutch punks inviting a septuagenarian saxophonist up from Addis or Tirudel Zenebe's abrasive Ethiopian disco. On some of the 13 tracks, the beats and tonalities first documented by the completist overkill of Buda Musique's Selassie-era Éthiopiques collections are infused with a funkier feel, but the old-school stuff also sounds pretty fresh-my favorite is a contemplative workout on a buzzing lyre called the begena by Zerfu Demissie, one of many artists here better served as a taste on a sampler than an album-length meal. Which in turn is provided by Anglo-Ethiopian Invisible System's bonus disc, a best-of that often surpasses their track on the overview. Start with "Gondar Sub," or "Dark Entries."

Robert Christgau USA

Which roughly translates as "With Invisible System, which like Dub Colossus dub reggae in its 'package' but has a broader spectrum of styles handling, including post-punk and even techno, finally we get another side of Ethiopian music presented."

Dutch review of the Rough Guide

People really began discovering vintage Ethiopian music with the superb Ethiopiques series, which showed just how varied and soulful the scene was in Ethiopia during the 1970s. It's arguable that it's just as vibrant these days, as this excellent compilation shows. There are some international collaborations from Dub Colossus and Invisible System (who are given an entire bonus album with this disc and are well worth hearing, managing to be sonically adventurous, incorporating many elements, including dub, into their sound, without losing the essential Ethio-centric core of the music), but the focus is on the homegrown. There's still soul, from Mahmoud Ahmed, then the strangeness of Krar Collective, who've been garnering widespread praise, and it's easy to understand why. Jazz has long been part of the spectrum and the glorious Samuel Yirga offers plenty here. The overall variety of the disc makes it a joy, an excellent snapshot of a country's music, and an indispensable primer. Add in cult favorites the Ex on one cut and you have a real winner.

Chris Nickson www.allmusic.com / itunes

       

Elias Negash - Jazzed Up [2012] [ethiopia]

       Elias Negash is an accomplished musician who has combined his Native Ethiopian music with his jazz education, and influences from the world music segment. He played through the seventies and became one of the pioneering figures to have brought Reggae and African music to the Bay Area with smash hit groups including Obeah, Axum, Caribbean All Stars and the Rastafarians. 

      After moving to Los Angeles Elias worked on the Royal Princess Cruise ship out of South Hampton England for four months. He has also done soundtrack for Television Movie in titled Glitz and also preformed on a TV series Murder She Wrote. Elias has also traveled as a Solo pianist and with Magyk Band to Japan.

Elias Negash - Belew Bedubaye

In addition to his role as a musician, Elias dedicates his time in multiple humanitarian efforts such as fundraising HIV Aids research and treatment, building schools and water-well in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Further, Elias is currently the president of Ethiopian Arts forum that strives to accomplish its objectives through the presentation of Ethiopian Music, Dance, Poetry, Drama and Visual Arts to the community.

Elias has put out five solo CDs titled Love, Harrambe (lets pull together), Peace, Feel Like Dancin’ and his new CD titled “JAZZED UP”

01 - Elias Negash - Perfect Ten (6:02)

02 - Elias Negash - I Lied to You (7:10)

03 - Elias Negash - Sway (8:29)

04 - Elias Negash - Antchim Endelela (5:26)

05 - Elias Negash - Memories Overwhelmed Him (4:52)

06 - Elias Negash - I Dare You (5:39)

07 - Elias Negash - No Women No Cry (6:15)

08 - Elias Negash - Tizeta Garedew (5:01)

09 - Elias Negash - Crazy (4:32)

10 - Elias Negash - Our Love Is Here to Stay (7:20)

11 - Elias Negash - Harlem Nocturne (5:34)

12 - Elias Negash - Elias Salsa (4:54)

13 - Elias Negash - Addis Ababa Bete (7:44)