v.a. - [1992] - Music from Ethiopia [Caprice]

       This recording gives rich samples of the sounds of tradition in urban musical life in Ethiopia today. The ancient ceremonial music played on the embilta flutes or the vocal art of Alemayehu Fanta or Gebre Hiwot Lemma represent older traditions. The group Sne Bahel offers samples of singing and music which accompanies lively traditional dances from the Oromo and Wollaita ethnic groups. Modern pop music is represented in six tracks by the Abyssinia Band. 

       A really nifty release, Caprice has combined two forms of urban music usually rigidly separated: professionally performed "traditional" music for krar, flute, voice, and Ethio-soul by electric groups that play the real local thing rather than the crossover material we're usually offered. The result is splendid: very varied and splendidly performed music and truth-in-classification.

01. Lemma Gebre Hiwot - Medina / Zelesegna (4:50)

02. Abyssinia band - Yedejih abeba negn [Hanna Shenkute] (6:44)

03. Yohannes Afework - Ambassel (4:29)

04. Abyssinia band - Mis men gidifkini [Girmai Biable] (4:18)

05. Asnakech Worku - Tizita (4:45)

06. Abyssinia band - Endenew yisemah [Hanna Shenkute] (5:30)

07. Areru Shegane, Teka Tema, Yohannes Afework - Tigrigna (3:16)

08. Yared Orchestra - Alegntaye (5:30)

09. Alemayehu Fanta - Salamta (3:00)

10. Abyssinia band - Yiberral libbe [Dawit Mellese] (4:23)

11. Sne Bahel - Haya wolalome (2:29)

12. Alemayehu Fanta - Anchihoyelene / Tizita (7:03)

13. Abyssinia band - Esketayew [Dawit Mellese] (4:35)

14. Sne Bahel - Dowa dowe (3:22)

15. Abyssinia band - Tizita [Hanna Shenkute] (7:11)

Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Anchiye

       
                      R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D  


       Teodros "Teddy" Makonnen is a composer, arranger, producer, and masterful music performer. "Anchiye" is very rare album. I found it on Soulseek, the best P2P software ever. Don't have any data or coverart, rip is pretty lousy, but music is great. 

1. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Fikrik Beretabign (7:55)

2. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Neh Yene Wolela (9:02)

3. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Tizita & Ambassel (13:42)

4. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Misterawi debdabe (7:43)

5. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Akale (8:29)

6. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Yadabelle (5:31)

7. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Ajire Mewded (4:23)

8. Teodros Teddy Makonnen - Enem Ager Alegn (4:11)

Mulatu Astatke - Live @ Altstadtherbst, Düsseldorf Sep-18th-2011

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

                  Excellent performance, exquisite sound. Enjoy!

        Mulatu Astatke - Live at Altstadtherbst, Düsseldorf, Sep-18th-2011 

01 Mulatu's intro             00:19

02 Dewell                      12:59

03 Yakermew Sew           11:19

04 Netsanet                   09:37

05 Azmari / Chic Chica     18:11

06 Yegelle Tezeta           05:54

07 Yekatit                      04:57

Tekle Tesfazgi - Saba Sabina [eritrea]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

       Eritrea is an East African country in the Horn of Africa region. Perhaps the most famous Eritrean musicians in history are Eng. Asghedom W. Micheal, Bereket Mengisteab, Yemane Baria, Osman Abderrehim, Alamin Abdeletif & Atowe Birhan Segid, some of whose music were banned by the Ethiopian government in the 1970s. Also of note is Bereket Mengistab, who has had a lengthy career, and 60s legends Haile Ghebru and Tewolde Redda. The latter was one of the first electric guitar players in East Africa, and a singer and writer of the famous 'allegedly' Eritrea's independence song "Shigey habuni" with love theme as coded message for political freedom .

       Eritrean music has a unique rhythm that sets it apart from the rest of Africa. Modern popular stars include Bereket Mengistab,Teklé Tesfa-Ezighe Tekele Kifle Mariam (Wedi Tukul), Tesfai Mehari (Fihira), Osman Abderrehim, Abrar Osman, Abraham Afwerki, Yemane Ghebremichael, Idris Mohamed Ali, Alamin Abdeletif, Tsehaytu Beraki, Atewebrhan Segid and Berekhet Mengisteab.

       Modern Eritrean popular music can be traced back to the late 1960s, when the MaHber Theatre Asmara began to produce stars like Osman Abderrehim, Alamin Abdeletif, Yemane Ghebremichael also commonly known as Yemane Baria, Jabber, Ateweberhan Seghid, Yonus Ibrahim, Tsehaytu Beraki, Tewolde Redda, Teberh Tesfahiwet and Tukabo. This music was influenced by American psychedelic rock and Motown soul music. The list of eritrean singers and eritrean bands is long.Since then, some musicians, like kraar-player Dawit Sium have helped to incorporate the core indigenous Eritrean musical elements in popular music. Imported styles of music from Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Africa, as well as the Caribbean, are also very popular in urban areas of Eritrea.

01. Tekle Tesfezghi - Kem Delay (6:47)

02. Tekle Tesfezghi - Mlketi (4:39)

03. Tekle Tesfezghi - Chnqi Nay Kltina (7:16)

04. Tekle Tesfezghi - Saba Sabina (5:15)

05. Tekle Tesfezghi - Kuhubky Kubki (4:27)

06. Tekle Tesfezghi - Fqrey Telemeni (4:27)

07. Tekle Tesfezghi - Mehiremaid (4:42)

08. Tekle Tesfezghi - Nbaet Temeaibe (5:16)

09. Tekle Tesfezghi - Bseney Dyu (5:26)

10. Tekle Tesfezghi - Tekele (3:51)

11. Tekle Tesfezghi - Tesfa (5:05)

Walias Band - [1981] - The Best Of Walias [ethiopia]

         Walias Band (sometimes spelled Wallias Band) were an Ethiopian Jazz and funk band active from the early 1970s until the early 1990s. Formed by members of the Venus Band, Walias backed up many prominent singers with a hard polyrhythmic funk sound influenced by western artists like King Curtis, Junior Walker and Maceo Parker. 

      In 1977 they recorded one of the few albums of Ethiopian instrumental music (Hailu Mergia and The Walias Band – Tche Belew) in collaboration with vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke, whose role as a bandleader and composer was also a major influence on Ethiopian popular music.

     In 1981 Walias became the first modern Ethiopian band to travel to the United States, playing on a tour with singer Mahmoud Ahmed primarily to audiences of Ethiopian refugees.

     Four members Girma Bèyènè, Mogès Habté, Mèlakè Gèbrè and Haylu Mergia stayed in the U.S. and formed a new group called Zula Band in favor of returning to live in Ethiopia under its dictatorship.

     Mergia took work in Washington DC driving a taxi cab and released solo cassette tapes of traditional Ethiopian music played on analog synthesizer, electric piano and accordion.The remaining members, Yohannes Tèkola and Tèmarè Harègou, continued to play together under the Derg dictatorship for another decade.

    In the late 1990s Walias Band found a wider audience in the west when the French label Buda Records reissued much of the group's music on the Ethiopiques series of compact discs. Their instrumental, "Musicawi Silt", became a popular dance number and has been covered by a number of artists.

     The Walias Band's name derives from the walia ibex, an endangered species of the Capra genus native to the mountains of Ethiopia. They share no members with the similarly named Ibex Band who also backed up Mahmoud Ahmed during the same epoch.

1.Walias Band - Malada                        [Woubishet Fisseha]    (5:11)
2.Walias Band - Kalatashew Akal                                                (2:35)
3.Walias Band - Tizzita                         [Getachew Kassa]      (10:25)
4.Walias Band - Ashkaru                        [Mahmoud Ahmed]     (3:06)
5.Walias Band - Ye Kereme Fikir            [Getachew Kassa]     (4:47)
6.Walias Band - Inchi Libbe Echo Naw  [Mahmoud Ahmed]    (6:32)
7.Walias Band - Eyuwat Sitnafikagn                                           (3:41)
8.Walias Band - Wa Hoyye                  [Woubishet Fisseha]     (5:13)

v.a. - The begenna of elders - The harp of David in Ethiopia [2009]

   R   E   U   P   L   O   A   D   

Alemu Aga - "Besmeab - Abatachin Hoy", 

playing the Begenna, the Harp of David from Ethiopia

01. Alemu Aga - The Sacred Names Of The Begenna (6:36)

02. Alemu Aga - Alem Marefiya Nat (The World Is A Place Of Rest) (4:25)

03. Alemu Aga - Hosanna (Cry Of Praise And Adoration To God) (4:09)

04. Seyoum Mengistu - Segid Selam (Worship For Peace) (2:44)

05. Seyoum Mengistu - Gidune (Unwillingly) (4:27)

06. Seyoum Mengistu - Hede Minino (Went To The Hermitage) (3:11)

07. Admassu Fikre - Ehud Lelit (Sunday Night - About The Ressurrection) (2:55)

08. Admassu Fikre - Kidus Kidus (The Praise Of The Lord) (5:31)

09. Admassu Fikre - Medinanazelesegna (The Futility Of Life) (4:08)

10. Tafesse Tesfaye - Besemea (In The Name Of The Father) (3:05)

11. Tafesse Tesfaye - Ergibina Wane ((The Praise Of St. Virgin Mary) (4:34)

12. Tafesse Tesfaye - Wodaje Wodaje (About The Sufferings Of Christ) (3:48)

       Alemu Aga was born in 1950 in Entoto, near Addis Ababa. Alemu Aga has played the Ethiopian traditional lyre Begenna since he was 12, having been trained by a famous master, Aleqa Alemayehu Wolde-Ammanuel, who was his neighbour and teacher at his school.

     After graduating from the Addis Ababa University (with a degree in geography), he taught the Begenna at the Yared Music School until 1980. He now teaches on a voluntary basis and focuses on his research about the Begenna.

      He has published numerous audiotapes and several CD‘s and appeared in concert worldwide. Nowadays, Alemu Aga is the most highly respected Begenna player of Ethiopia.

    Talking on any subject with Alemu Aga, one cannot help but be taken aback by the exceptionally smooth and enchanting tone in which the veteran begena performer utters his measured responses. Of course, given the gracious and calm mood displayed on all occasions by one of the few living authorities on the begena instrument, it could still be possible to pass Alemu Aga's spiritual and melancholic sounding tones as mere natural endowments of that exceptional man. But take the scores of begena lyrics Alemu is known to sing again and again, especially during fasting seasons, on the national radio and you have just begun to appreciate the high degree of sublimity (as they call it in the theatre) that the personality of Alemu has afforded to the art of that unique Ethiopian treasure.

    True enough then that in manners, speech and strict Orthodox Christian way of life, the personality of Alemu Aga, to say the least, could be described as all begena in itself. And this is due to the fact that all the enchanting monotony of lyrical sounds that the traditional string instrument is capable of producing, together with the strict spiritual messages the lyrics carry, have almost perfectly captivated the psyche and physique of the virtuoso performer. "In performing with the begena, one is only supposed to appropriately reflect strictly spiritual and holy messages. Anything less and worldly than that, like modern music, is not attributable to the purposes of the begena and is hence disrespectful," he says.