Ernesto Chahoud’s Taitu is a collection of soul-fuelled stompers straight from the dancefloors of 1970s Addis Ababa. A breathless journey through the unique Ethio sound that bands were forging at the time, the 24-track compilation is the result of the Lebanese DJ and crate digger’s decade long love affair with the ‘golden age’ of Ethiopian music.
Tilahun Gessesse - Aykedashim Libe
Among the musical gems featured are 7″s by some of the heavyweights of the scene including Mulatu Astatke and Alemayehu Eshete, the vocalist dubbed the ‘Ethiopian Elvis’, alongside tracks by more obscure artists such as Merawi Yohannis and Birkineh Wurga.
For Taitu, Chahoud has selected 24 of his essential Ethio-Soul 7″s, that never leave his DJ box, and together they capture this opportune moment in Ethiopian music history that saw bands experiment with an armful of influences: gliding through R&B, rock & roll, jazz, funk, soul and boogaloo. What came out was a distinctly Ethiopian interpretation: pentatonic scales, horn-driven melodies and soul-shattering vocals sung in Amharic.
The songs are difficult to box in to one genre but they share a simplicity and rawness, added to by their lo-fi quality – with many recordings made in rudimentary studios with only a couple of mics for the entire band.
From the R&B stomper ‘Honey Baby’ by Alemayehu Eshete to Astatke’s swaggering ethnic-jazz instrumental ‘Emnete’ and the bluesy melancholic vocals of Hirut Bekele on ‘Ewnetegna Feker’, ‘Taitu’ is a window in on the exciting records being made in Ethiopia in the 1970s.
Entire contet of this page is taken from Tumblr webpageof guy named DJ Mitmitta, or Kidus Berhanu or Vemund Hareide as he is titled in his Norwegian passport, and this blog post(from december 2013).
He is true archaelogist of ethiopian vinyl and cassette releases and his devotion to rare ethiopian music is unique.
DJ Mitmitta
Curiosity and frustration can take you far. It has for Kidus Berhanu. Better known as DJ Mitmitta or Vemund Hareide as he is titled in his Norwegian passport, these virtues have taken him all the way from Oslo to the Ethiopian countryside. For Kidus, it all started with a frustration with the uniformity of Western music. A frustration that fed his curiosity to discover the yet undiscovered musical treasures of Ethiopia and led to a commitment to archive and spread the joy of Ethiopian music. This has since materialized in countless travels across the country to collect cassettes with traditional Ethiopian music and the Ethiojazz of the 60s and 70s, and in the founding of Mitmitta Music Shop in 2010 (The shop is currently closed but Kidus is hoping to reopen in a few months at a new location in town.)
This is a journey not unlike others. Awesome Tapes’ Brian Shimkovitz, Sahels Sounds’ Christopher Kirkley and labels such as Soundway, Analog Africa and Sublime Frequencies have embarked on similar voyages. But what distinguish the musical odyssey of Kidus is not only its East African focus. It is also its material character and the focus on the local market opposed to international distribution. For Kidus, the modus operandi has not been spreading the music through a blog nor through reissuing old vinyl records. Not yet. The approach has instead been one of collecting, cataloguing and digitalizing.
The Archaeology of Cassettes
More than anything, Kidus’ project is an endeavor into musical archaeology and ethnography. And it’s a project focused on and redeemed through tapes (his cassette collection now numbers more than a thousand different Ethiopian tapes). As he explains: “Vinyl is hyped. And tapes are still a popular format. In Ethiopia, a lot of the good old music was never issued on vinyl or on CD.” However, the predominance of cassettes also makes Kidus’ point to one of several caveats in the music industry and to an irony in his own project. Because while the cassette is his preferred format, it was exactly the spread of the cassette in the late 70’s and onwards that exterminated numerous record labels in Ethiopia and on the rest of continent and gave way for cheaper productions and musicians being replaced by a single synthesizer.
In Ethiopia, the record producers and music shop owners could buy one master tape and then easily duplicate this via cheap blank tapes. An early form of musical piracy that resulted in low quality recordings, unduly low prices and a situation where great Ethiopian artists such as Tilahun Gessesse or Mahmoud Ahmed received only a one-off payment and no benefits of potential future distributions. This however can possibly change with the introduction of a new copyright law in Ethiopia in 2010 that led to many music-shop owners being jailed for copying music for piracy purposes.
Ethiopian Music as off-limit for Ethiopians
Another and somewhat bizarre consequence of the functioning of the Ethiopian music industry prior to the 2010 copyright legislation is that today only very few Ethiopians have access to legal copies of the old Ethiopian recordings. Alemayehu Eshete, Muluken Mellese, Getachew Kassa and other of the artist that have become globally renowned through the Ethiopiques series are simply not legally accessible for the majority of Ethiopians.
Kidus is hoping this will change. He spends lots of time nagging the distributors to re-distribute their old releases, trying to convince them that these records will sell again. The problem is often that the covers are out of print and to make it profitable for distributors they would need to reprint at least 1-2000 covers. But his mission of making Ethiopian music available for both the foreign and the Ethiopian music audience does not stop here. He will soon be releasing a recording of Amharic wedding music from 1973 on both cassette AND vinyl. At the same time he dreams of expanding the geographical focus of his work by collecting, sustaining and distributing old Eritrean, Somali and Sudanese music.
Aster Aweke & Wubishet Fisseha
The Regionalization of Ethiopian music
While music from the rest of Africa has a strong appeal to Kidus, there is and will probably never be something quite like the tunes of Ethiopia for him. After spending part of his childhood in Ethiopia, he returned to Addis briefly as a teenager. The past few years he has spent travelling back and forth between Norway and Ethiopia, between studies, work and cassette hunting. He now spends most of his time in Ethiopia and is fluent in Amharic, the official Ethiopian language. His fascination of Ethiopian music has several roots, as he describes: “The Ethiopians really value their music and even today Ethiopian music is closely linked to the cultural traditions of the country. In addition, the great variation in the music of Ethiopia’s different regions really appeals to me.”
The vast regional difference in Ethiopian musical tradition is something that also poses a challenge to his ethno-musical investigations. The best music of Tigray or Oromiya is not found in Addis but in the music shops in provincial Ethiopia. Kidus highlights the Tzeta music shop in Dessie and the Negarit shop in Dire Dawa as the best music shops outside and the places to find respectively old Tigray, Amhara and Oromo music. He further explains the initial reception of the old music shop owners when a young pale Scandinavian walks into their domain and asks for cassettes with old – and for many Ethiopian also forgotten – artists: “At first they are quite suspicious. But quickly suspicion turns into excitement and appreciation. Mutual appreciation of and gratitude for a joint effort to preserve an important heritage.”
The Faranji Connoisseur
Many of these grand old men of Ethiopian music – collectors, producers and music shop owners – have since become close friends of Kidus. And Kidus himself has become a renowned connoisseur of Ethiopian music. The go-to-guy for advice and expertise on the music and the music scene of Ethiopia. A position very few faranjis (meaning foreigners in Amharic) can credibly claim. And not an easy position to achieve taking into consideration the relative isolation of Ethiopia and its music during the past century. Nevertheless, Kidus still sees himself as a foreigner in Ethiopia and its music industry and he is aware of the challenges that this poses to him.
Although the emphasis in Kidus’ efforts has mainly on the Ethiopian artists of the past, he has also witnessed on first-hand the changes in the contemporary music scene in Addis (link to Jazzamba article). Changes of both the encouraging and less positive kind. The revival of Ethiojazz has led to an explosion of live music in Addis the last few years: “All clubs want their own band now and there is a lot of talent out there, which is good. Unfortunately, many of the new bands are afraid of experimenting. This is also the case for many of the European or American bands that have started playing Ethiojazz. Many of them are simply trying to copy the success of Mulatu Astatke.”
Umar Suleeyman
There are of course exemptions to this trend and Kidus points to the Nubian Arc as one of the most experimental and forward-looking bands around (see further recommendations from Kidus below).
Kidus concludes by highlighting a more remarkable effect of the renewed interest in Ethiopian music. According to Kidus the new golden era of Ethiopian music has substantially changed the image of Ethiopia and provided the outside world with a new impression of what Ethiopia is in cultural terms. And Kidus is here to make sure that the insight of foreigners and Ethiopians into the unique musical treasures of Ethiopia will grow and proliferate for years to come.
One of the most successful musicians of the 1970s and 80s Colonel Lemma Demissew has died at the age of 68 on Saturday, August 24th 2009. A pianist, composer, singer and arranger, Lemma was the leading musician of Armed Forces band, a band that has entertained the army and visiting heads of states for decades. Among his appreciative audiences were Fidel Castro of Cuba, Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi and the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
His songs such as “Astawesalehu”“Adrashas Tefabegn” and “Des Balagnalech” are still popular hits. Lemma also maintains reputation for arranging many of Mahmoud Ahmed’s and Alemayehu Eshete anthological vinyl records.
Lemma Demissew - አስታዉሳለሁ ( Astawsalehu )
Born in Welisso in 1940, Lemma studied high school at Hailemaryam Mamo Secondary High School in Debre Birhan town and at the age of 15 joined the music section of the Armed Forces. There among other things he taught himself to play clarinet. Lemma impressed his superiors with his unique vocal style, demonstrating both outstanding range and the influences of western music. During his time in the Armed Forces, he has taken many musical courses, including a six-year-training in conducting in Soviet Union.
Lemma has composed a number of official army songs by frequently abandoning the traditional rules and disciplines. He created new harmonies and pioneered new musical forms in which to present his musical ideas. Part of his success was the result of his mastery of the pleasant, tuneful style of piano. The single “Astawesalehu Mech Eresalehu” was his first hit and his talent for melodious, sentimental ballads became his most distinguishing feature. This music remains Lemma signature work and a favorite hit on local radio stations.
Starting as simple soldier in 1974 he became an army commander and conductor of the roving marshal band. His advancement was rapid. His personal charm and his artistic abilities were partly responsible for his rapid advancement in the army.
When Lemma resigned in 1993 after the army was disbanded, he was colonel. Even after that, he was much sought as a piano teacher by many, and his long list of students was a roster of the young and the old.
In May 2009 when the Alliance Ethio-Francise organized the 8th Ethiopian Music Festival has chosen to honor Lemma and Sahle Dagago, another notable arranger and composer who is at present in poor health. Comparing it with Sahel Degago, Francis Falsetto described Lemma’s music as a feverish modernist, deeply inspired by the electric wave born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Getachew Debalqe, a renowned stage personality, described Lemma as a hardworking and diligent musician. Getachew told Addis Journal that he was able visit Lemma two days before his demise. “I was lucky to be able to see him on Thursday. He didn’t say much but was able to utter some words.” Lemma had a stroke few years ago that has left him paralyzed.
Bahata Gebrehiwot, a musician of Lemma‘s era, said Lemma was a great musician. “He has had a tremendous musical achievement yet remained very modest and reserved.” Bahta remarked though Lemma was able to lead his family autonomously, he hasn’t much of financial fortunes. “Like many other musicians, he hasn’t made much use of his music and hasn’t got the recognition he deserved,” says Bahta.
Founded in 1985 by saxophonist & composer Russ Gershon, the ten-piece Either/Orchestra, based in Somerville MA, is one of the jazz world's most long-lived and distinguished groups. Alumni include jazz stars such as John Medeski, Matt Wilson, Miguel Zenon, Jaleel Shaw & Josh Roseman.
The E/O, featuring a six piece horn section, piano, bass, drums and congas, has put its stamp on just about every style of jazz, from big band, swing and bop to Latin jazz, electric and avant-garde. The last decade or more has found the band absorbing an Afro-Caribbean influence through a succession of Latino members.
Teshome Mitiku with Either/Orchestra
More unusually, the E/O has become deeply involved with Ethiopian music, touring there and collaborating with many Ethiopian greats of the outstanding 1960's generation. Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Teshome Mitiku are among the band's favorites. The Ethiopian connection includes the double CD Ethiopíques 20: Live in Addis and the DVD Ethiogroove: Mahmoud Ahmed and Either/Orchestra.
Over the years, the E/O has been recognized with five Boston Music Awards, perennial placement in the Big Band category of the Down Beat International Critics Poll, and leader Gershon was nominated for an arranging Grammy for his composition "Bennie Moten's Weird Nightmare," included in The Calculus of Pleasure.
The E/O began performing original arrangements of Ethiopian songs, inspired by a compilation called Ethiopian Groove: the Golden 70s. In 2000, after three of these songs appeared on the album More Beautiful than Death, Francis Falceto, the producer of Ethiopian Groove, contacted Gershon and eventually arranged an invitation for the E/O to play at the Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa in 2004.
Along with Indo-British singer Susheela Raman the same year, the E/O was the first non-Ethiopian artist to appear in the festival, and was the first US big band to appear in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington's in 1973. Their concert at the festival was recorded and ultimately appeared in Falceto's Ethiopiques series on the French Buda Musique label. Five Ethiopian guests appear on the recording: Mulatu Astatke, Getatchew Mekurya, Tsedenia Markos, Bahta Hewet and Michael Belayneh. This tour and recording have led to an ongoing collaboration with Astatke, the primary founder of Ethiopian jazz, concerts with Ethiopian expatriates singer Hana Shenkute, krar player Minale Dagnew, masinko player Setegn Atanaw, and the great Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed with whom E/O released a DVD in 2007.
Mahmoud Ahmed and fellow legendary Ethiopian singer Alemayehu Eshete played Lincoln Center Out of Doors in 2008 backed by E/O. The group debuted a collaboration with vocalist Teshome Mitiku in the summer of 2010, including a headlining appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival.
Either Orchestra - 01 - Introduction (3:03) Either Orchestra - 02 - Tigrigna,Oromigna,Guragigna (14:06) Either Orchestra - 03 - Arehibi (9:34) Either Orchestra - 04 - Ethiopia (5:20) Either Orchestra - 05 - Yamnaw Bedele (6:55) Either Orchestra - 06 - Yeqir Beqa (6:07) guests : Minnale Danew - krar Setegn Atanaw - masinko Hana Shenkute - vocal
I finally caught Getachew Kassa for an interview. Other than listening to his greatest hits on radio and watching him on television, I was able to see him once or twice in person playing at the Jazzamba Lounge in Piazza few years ago, yet when I tried to contact him for an interview, I found out it was not an easy to thing to do. He was elusive. First he wanted to know which media I worked for; radio, or TV. I explained it was a website. He then asked me to call him after two or three weeks. When I did, he would find an excuse to say No this time around. He would say ‘he has a cold, you know the pollution in Addis?’ Finally, with the help of music producer Amaha Eshete, I was able to interview Getachew.
Despite a wall of formality he builds around himself, there’s a warmth and playfulness that seeps out of him. He recounted his recollections and stories, with deep, low-pitched voice, and punctuated with infectious laugh.
Getachew Kassa photo by Mario Di Bari (februar 2013)
Getachew, 67, occupies a unique space in the Ethiopian music sphere, his singular voice and stage act straddling generations. Since he started playing one of his hits “Emegnalehu” with a band called Fetan Band – or Speed Band – at the Patrice Lumumba Bar in Wube Berha in the 70’s, Getachew established himself as one of the most accomplished Ethiopian musicians of the period. His career as recording artist includes tunes such as “Addis Ababa”, “Tiz Balegn Gize”, “Yekereme Fikir”, “Bertucan nesh lomi”“Bichayan Tekze”“Agere Tizitash”. The “Tezeta slow & fast” that he created and popularized when he was playing for various groups, the Sehebelles band, the Venus band, and later with the Walias band, was subsequently recorded by Amha Records. Those records were reissued by the French producer Francis Falceto in the Éthiopiques 1 (Golden Years of Modern Music), collections that he put together to recapture the lost music of pre-Revolutionary Ethiopia. “This Tezeta remains one of the best-selling records ever in Ethiopia, totalling around 5,000 copies, while most hits level-off at 2-3,000 and a few hundred is considered a moderate success. Very people owned record players, but the entire country heard that Tezeta, the first, jangling by an Ethiopia set in motion,” Falceto wrote in the cover. The CD reissue brought wider recognition at home and abroad, generating attention and praise even from Bob Dylan who included it in his anthology CD of favorites for Starbucks coffee chain in 2008, in a series called Artist’s Choice. In the selections of “music that matters to him” Dylan talked about the song “Tezeta” from the compilation album in the Ethiopiques series. Dylan writes, “When I first heard this record I knew nothing about it. There’s this guy named Harold who usually shows up when I play Forth Worth, and he always gives me a bag of CDs. He never writes down what’s on them. I had to wait till the next time I was in Fort Worth to ask him what this track was. I found out it’s an Ethiopian record from this series of records made during that short window of time when popular music was allowed in Ethiopia. But when I heard it I didn’t know any of that. I thought it was some kind of Cajun record played backwards. There’s something great about hearing music that’s so obviously passionate and so obviously good, and not being able to understand the words. I like to imagine this is what my records might sound like to someone in a country that doesn’t speak English.”
Getachew says it was a great honour to receive an admiration from this word-class musician. He was not even aware of his inclusion in the CD until a friend told him about it and gave him as present. “This friend of mine Mike Alazar, who used to sing in English at Wabi Shebele hotel one day happened to hear my music while he was at Starbucks. He asked the personnel at the chain and came to know that it was compiled with other English songs. He hurriedly bought it and brought it to me. I treasure it a lot” Getachew says.
Born and raised in Addis Ababa’s Mercato area from a relatively well-off family, Getachew found his love and dedication for music in his early years. “As early as eight, music was something that just grabbed me. I sang an Italian song called Asmarina, asmarina, which was popular then. My parents were separated and I lived with my father. I used to frequent this café in my neighbourhood called California where I used to listen to records of Little Richards, Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte, among others. I started imitating those singers,” he says.
He also started to play drums with a certain Yemen national, Mockbile, who bought a drum and asked him to try it. He played it good. But those years were difficult for him because he never received a blessing on his passion from his father. There were fights at home every single day because of it. “My father even hid the record player that was in our house,” he recalls.
The precariousness of Getachew’s life made it difficult for him to concentrate in school.”I messed up all the time,” he said.Eventually, in his teenage years, he run away to Dire Dawa, hoping to get a job doing music. One night he happened to pass by a bar where there was this person playing accordion solo. “There was drum machine on the corner and no one was playing it. I went to him and I proposed playing the drum and he was okay. I became a good drummer there,” Getachew says. “I met this guy, Solomon, who was in the police army, who was playing saxophone. We went to Harar and I joined Segon Orchestra. With the permission of army officials, he bought equipment and we started playing for different occasions. After a year, I came back to Addis because they wanted to put me in the army,”
Getachew Kassa - Adesewa
While in Harar, he took Kassa as his father’s name than the real one Tsegaye, because his father said he did not want him to carry on his name. “At the time I was in love with this girl Assgedetch Kassa, who was a singer herself. I told her about it and she said why I don’t take her father’s name. I became Getachew Kassa to this day,” he laughs.
In Addis Ababa, Getachew started playing with a band called Fetan Band, at the Patrice Lumumba Bar, which was owned by Woizero Asegedech Alamrew. That was the most important regular gig for him, playing along with Teshome Mitiku, Mekonen Mersha. “Emegnalehu” became very popular and brought him to prominence. “It put me in a whole different place. It was the start of me making a living as a singer.” Tilahun Gessesse used to show up often and do the twist for the music, he says. Getachew was then paid five birr per day. For the following year, he played at Sombrero in Senga Tera, a club where Alemayehu Eshete used to play. He was offered 15 birr by the patron the Seyoum and another of his hits, Sayish Esasalehu was born there. Upon his discharge from the club, he briefly joined Axum Adarash in Gulele as vocalist where he joined Tekle “Huket” Adhnaom, a guitarist from Asmara, Hailu Zihon, who played base, former member of the Police Force. Then Abubakar Ashakih, a composer and former singer for the Imperial Music Department, and owner of Venus nightclub beckoned them to play at his club which was first located in Piazza, and later in Ambassador Cinema. The band’s reputation spread rapidly, also getting regular invitation to perform at high school graduation parties. Getachew’s slow and fast Tezeta became more popular here. After six months again another offer from Wabishebele Hotel, they became the Wabishebele Band in 1969. It was then that Getachew met Amaha Eshete and the two tunes were recorded in in LP.
As Francis Falceto describes it, ”the double version of Tezeta, thanks to its success and the polemic it fuelled incensed conservatives and pop’s young guard, stand as symbol of pre-revolutionary Ethiopia- in the light music vein. Getachew Kassa delivers a version totally contrary to tradition, but so well adapted by non-conformist Ethiopian youth in 1972.”
Around that time, Getachew joined the famed Walias ensemble, that eventually landed a residency at the Hilton hotel, performing for tourists, diplomats and middle class locals. After soundtracking Addis Ababa’s night life for more than a decade, in 1981 Getachew Kassa and the Walais band went to the US, in their first American exposure at a time Ethiopian’s military regime was strongly condemning American imperialism. The group’s first performance was at Washington DC’s famous Warner Theatre.
Getachew decided to stay in Washington DC, where the band had originally landed upon their arrival–and there he remained. His stay in the United States, he admits, wasn’t a fertile working environment. He said he was “well received at the start by the Ethiopian community there and quickly making fans across US cities who showered me with gifts”. However, as years went by, he found it difficult to work with the band there, “The trouble with most musicians there is that they don’t rehearse enough. Since they are busy with other things, making money, they want to show up and join me to perform. I myself don’t come to the stage without practising my own materials. I make it a point to pay attention to the smallest details. I don’t find that with many of them. I couldn’t even find anybody to play with,” he says. All the same, he worked in the Ethiopian restaurants found in different states, including Blue Nile, Addis Ababa restaurant, Dukem, Etete, Queen Sheba. “I used to perform three times per week. I liked being on stage. When I put on my hands on the piano, I forgot all other things.”
Getachew, who lived in the United States for twenty seven years, is now back in Ethiopia, trying to rekindle his music career. “I felt a pool from home. Ethiopia is a deep part of my life. The time came that I had to come back,” he says. His songs are often about loss, solitude, and for a lot of his life he has been a loner. “I got married once and my marriage did not work out,” he says. He has a daughter from this marriage, who is currently living in Saudi Arabia that he has not seen or spoken for many years. In many ways he has been consumed by his songs, by touring. Probably, this drive has been the reason for the break-up of his marriage.
After his return to Ethiopia four years ago, he started performing at Jazzamba with a band comprising young musicians, Vibes Band. However, his old demons have not been entirely exorcized. One member of the band then described the frustrations of dealing with the singer’s mood swings, though he respected his singing so much.
After fire destroyed the Jazzamba club, Getachew shifted playing to Mama’s Kitchen, a bar on the shopping mall near Bole airport with Express band. It worked for a while but these days he is not playing there anymore.
On April 3, 2016 Getachew went to Berlin to perform at concert (his first in Germany), as part of the “Stay Strong” project, a music project dedicated to the renowned Ethiopian singer and songwriter Alemayehu Eshete & to musicians of his generation.
In a two-week workshop, Getachew’s big hits were re-interpreted, arranged in a contemporary manner and recorded in studio quality. Band Manager and Booking Agent at The Stay Strong Orchestra, Clemens Grün told Ethiopia Observer that they did one recording workshop with Alemyahu Eshete and another with Getachew Kassa and Selam Seyoum Woldemariam. “The recordings, we did, especially with Getachew, are not comparable with anything he or anybody else ever did with his songs,” he says. They did eight songs with Getachew, one is linked here.
The project’s trailer, which was described as “a kind of Ethiopian Buena Vista Social Club” could be seen on You Tube. Getachew presented his first performance UFA-Fabrik, factory to wide acclaim.
It was a proof that that his music and energy is as alive as ever and he is a determined as he was in his youthful prime. Getachew is planning to celebrate a 50 year career in music next year. However, he said no plans to retire in the near future, adding instead that he planned to downsize his career, cancelling all club engagements.
(Special thanks to John Wilson for sending me Bob Dylan’s notes on Getachew, which i quoted in its entirety in the article.)
