In 2004, Quantic, Miles Cleret and B+ went to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to find records and meet with Mulatu Astatke. It was fitting then that when Quantic came to LA to DJ for the Mulatu show he came with records almost all found on that first unique trip. Trawling eBay is not the same as a trip to East Africa.
Quanticmade the trip and on the evening of February 1st, 2009, he buckled everyone at the Luckmann Theatre into their seats, and took us on a one hour flight back. Here is the DJ set in its entirety. And don't be alarmed by a few crackles and pops, that's what 30+ year-old records sound like.
Although Rahel Yohannes is a formidable singer who has performed professionally for more than 20 years, her entrance into the music business was almost by coincidence. As the manager of an Ethiopian restaurant, Rahel would frequently entertain her customers by singing acappella for them. Her patrons began to look forward to her impromptu performances and, one evening, one of these admirers brought the late Ketema Mekonnen – a well-known singer and player of traditional musical instruments – to the restaurant and asked Rahel to join him in a song. She performed the haunting ballad “Tizita” and a couple of years later released her first album. Since then, she has released 9 recordings as a professional singer.
In addition to being an accomplished entertainer, Rahel is an entrepreneur who has owned and operated various nightclubs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Presently, she entertains ever-growing audiences at the Fasika Restaurant and Nightclub in Addis Ababa.
In 2006 Nick 'Dubulah' Page, British producer, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of Transglobal Underground and Syriana, first travelled to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. His aim was to collaborate with musicians and explore traditional Azmari styles, 60s Ethiopian pop, Ethiojazz and 70s Jamaican Dub Reggae. He came across some amazingly talented artists – female vocalists Tsedenia Gebremarkos and Sintayehu 'Mimi' Zenebe, Ethiojazz pianist Samuel Yirga, tenor sax player Feleke Hailu and Teremage Woretaw on messenqo (one-string fiddle) and vocals.
Dub Colossus was born. The first recordings were exclusively previewed on Society of Sound. Then followed the critically acclaimed debut album 'A Town Called Addis,' (2008) and a series of outstanding live shows.
Especially for Society of Sound, the band have put together ‘Dub Will Tear Us Apart’, featuring ten brand new tracks fresh from studio sessions in Real World, Edinburgh and Addis Ababa. Highlights include Dub Colossus’ Anglo-Ethiopian version of the reggae classic, “Uptown Top Ranking”, written and originally performed by Jamaican girl duo Althea & Donna, which topped the UK singles chart in 1978. "It had a big effect on me," explains Nick Page, "seeing it on Top Of The Pops… it was a first in many ways."
The connection between Ethiopia and Jamaica has been well documented, especially with regards to the lyrical content of a lot of Jamaican Roots Reggae music. Dub Colossus’ dread Abesha version is fronted by Sintayehu and Tsedenia, with UK/Jamaican guest MC JP Higgins.
Other highlights include "Guragignia", a ferociously funky Ethiopian song which sounds like a blue taxi going at full speed with no brakes during rush hour in Addis Ababa. A live show favourite, it features lead vocals by Sintayehu. "Selemi" is another live favourite, an Ethio-Funk stomper fronted by Tsedenia supported by the keyboards of Samuel Yirga and saxes of Feleke Hailu, that morphs into a southern Ethiopian rhythm of release. In contrast, "Medina" is a Teremage Woretaw traditional solo track, for voice and messenqo. A gospel song performed to mark a period of fasting, Teremage sings in growling wild swoops as he bows his messenqo with an intense energy.
Dub Will Tear Us Apart features members of the current live band for the first time: drummer Nick Van Gelder (ex Jamiroquai, Brand New Heavies), bass player Dr Das (ex Asian Dub Foundation), vocalist PJ Higgins (Natacha Atlas, Almamegretta, Kenneth Bager), as well as the wonderful Horns of Negus, who recently worked with Dr John, Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, consisting of Ben Somers (tenor and baritone sax), Robert Dowell (trombone) and Jonathan Radford (trumpet).
Meklit Hadero, known simply as "Meklit", is a singer and songwriter based in San Francisco, California. She is known for her soulful performing style, and for combining jazz, folk, and East African influences in her music. Born in Ethiopia, she was raised in the U.S. and attended college at Yale, where she studied political science.
Shortly after graduation, Meklit moved to San Francisco and became immersed in the city's thriving arts scene. "Meklit is an artistic giant in the early stages," wrote a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle after witnessing an early performance in the city's Mission District. "She sings of fragility, hope and self-empowerment, and exudes all three. What's irresistible, above all, is her cradling, sensuous, gentle sound. She is stunning."
Named a TED Global Fellow in 2009, Meklit has served as an artist-in-residence at New York University, the De Young Museum, and the Red Poppy Art House. Currently a fellow of the Wildflowers Institute, Meklit has also completed musical commissions for the San Francisco Foundation and for theatrical productions staged by Brava! For Women in the Arts. She is the founder of the Arba Minch Collective, a group of Ethiopian artists in diaspora devoted to nurturing ties to their homeland through collaborations with both traditional and contemporary artists there.
As a Senior TED Fellow since 2011 , she co-founded the Nile Project with Egyptian ethno-musicologist Mina Girgis and has since participated in 2 artist residencies (Aswan, 2013 and Uganda in 2014) uniting musicians from 11 countries all along the Nile Basin.
Meklit has released five records to date. The first was a self-produced and released eight-song EP entitled Eight Songs (2008). The second , her first full-length LP, On a Day Like This... released to wide critical acclaim in 2010 , was recorded at San Francisco's Closer Studios and produced by Eric Moffat and Unsound Recording. Hailed by Filter magazine for "[combining] New York jazz with West Coast folk and African flourishes, all bound together by Hadero's beguiling voice.". It won Meklit feature stories by NPR, PBS, and National Geographic. The San Francisco Chronicle called her " an artistic giant in the making " . She then ventured into a creative collaboration called CopperWire , along with two hip emcees also from the Ethiopian diaspora , Gabriel Teodros and Burntface . Together they created the first hip hop space opera , "Earthbound" which hit #5 in CMJ's hiphop charts . A complete change came with the 2012 release of her extraordinary harmonic duets with Oakland blues and soul crooner Quinn DeVeaux, simply titled Meklit & Quinn. The duo covered terrain as diverse as Arcade Fire (their version of "Tunnels" left many speechless with its simple beauty) , Lou Reed , Neil Young and Stevie Wonder.
Now she makes yet another quantum leap , in her latest solo album We Are Alive . Produced by sonic genius Eli Crews (best known for his work with tUnE-yArDs) , her inimitable composition talents and unique voice take infinite and inventive flight , from her jazz-standard sounding "A-Train" to the fiery build of "Waiting for Earthquakes" , weaving through a dark and tantalizing version of The Police classic "Bring On the Night" via her funky take on an Ethiopian tune, "Kemekem " (which she subtitles " I Like Your Afro!") , winding up with the grande finale, the declaration "We Are Alive". USA Today says, " Meklit delivers a sound all her own... (We Are Alive) gets even better with every listen ",
The Village Voice comments : "She's a blithe-voiced daughter of Joni who considers music a path to higher ground, with rest stops for the likes of Talking Heads and Lou Reed."
