2010 release, a superb Funk/Hip-Hop album from the Australian bandBlack Jesus Experience - Yelluinta fuses an irresistible blend of traditional Ethiopian song and 21st Century groove. The rhymes and chimes of the band deliver the musical strength and beauty of Africa through the vocal prism of Hip-Hop and freedom of Jazz.
01 - The Black Jesus Experience - Arada (3:49)
02 - The Black Jesus Experience - Guraginya (4:18)
03 - The Black Jesus Experience - Don't Cry For The Fallen (4:41)
04 - The Black Jesus Experience - Yeluinta (5:05)
05 - The Black Jesus Experience - Lonnie's Lament-Dawitt Abatachew (5:15)
06 - The Black Jesus Experience - Let's Call Her (2:46)
07 - The Black Jesus Experience - Bohemia (5:38)
Black Jesus Experience(BJX)is an 8 piece band playing an irresistibly danceable blend of traditional Ethiopian song and 21st Century groove. As diverse as the 5 continents the members of 'BJX' hail from, their music reflects the multicultural vibrancy of the band's hometown, Melbourne, Australia.
When not touring BJX run a weekly session at cultural hub The Horn where BJX create new songs live on stage. The comfort BJX has with this practice lies in the improvising traditions of that feed BJX including Hip Hop, Jazz, Azmari and Rutu Pa'u.
The music is also fed quite literally before each performance by the ritual of a group meal prepared by singer Enushu and MD Peter Harper in the Ethiopian tradition, "those who eat from the same plate will not betray each other". This inspires and reinforces bonds musical, social and spiritual, bonds BJX invite their audiences to join.
Enushu began entertaining her local community as a child in Addis Ababa. Forced to leave Ethiopia, Enushu migrated to Australia bringing hauntingly beautiful compositions inspired by her remarkable life story and the unique vocal traditions of Ethiopia. Enushu is joined on vocals by poetic giant and lyrical miracle The Monk, Zimbabwe born and Outback bred.
Highlights for BJX include two tours of "the Motherland" Ethiopia, performing with Ethiojazz legend Mulatu Astatke in Europe and Australia (an association which won BJX and Mulatu "The Age Best Tour" award) Glastonbury and other great festivals.
The rhymes and chimes of Black Jesus Experience deliver the power and beauty of Africa through the vocal prism of Hip-Hop and freedom of Funk.
"Last August, I spent a week or so in Eritrea during the country's annual cultural festival. I was alone and documented a lot—buidings, food, the names of internet cafés, among other things. Hunting for music, I spent a lot of time in a small music shop opposite the Asmara post office. I was looking for RnB, but fell in love with the cover artwork of the EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) cassette tapes instead. Recorded in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the songs were sung, performed, recorded and distributed among the various EPLF contingents during their 21 year struggle against the Ethiopian occupation and its infamous Derg, before winning independence in 1991.
The silky voiced Tefono and female freedom fighter Abrehet Ankere were among the most popular singers as well as the much-loved Wedi Tikul,. The songs are still listened to today—mostly on cassette tape—and even the saddest lyrics move along happily with a popcorn kind of rhythm."
—NJ Stallard
tracklist :
01 - Kede'At Deki Hager — Fihira
02 — Ayresanayon 77 — Tefono
03 — Wahiz Gu'zo — Zemach
04 — Ab Bebeynu Ewan (Fechew version) — Wedi Tukul
Ethiopian jazz is a major branch of African music that comes from the bars of Addis Ababa and draws its influence from jazz and traditional Ethiopian music, azmari, Latin sounds and Anglo-American funk. Choosing to adapt this music in a contemporary and more urban style, Arat Kilo draws inspiration from rock music and the hypnotic sounds of dub.
Their show alternates compositions and standard Ethiopian arrangements (a beautiful meeting was held at RFI’s studio with Mulatu Astatké, the father of Ethiopian jazz)
Born of a meeting to the Musiqueyras’s festival in July 2008, Arat Kilo is an elecric quintet which revisits the Ethiopian jazz and grooves of the seventies: between modern grooves, compositions and Ethiopian standards.
01 - Arat Kilo - Ankober Hotel (3:42)
02 - Arat Kilo - Lonmewo Lalie (feat. Mimi) (3:24)
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