Endris Hassen (The Ex, Ethiocolor, Imperial Tiger Orchestra, Nile Project, MistO-MistO etc) and Cory Seznec (Groanbox, Seznec Bros, solo, MistO-MistO, etc) joined forces in late 2014 to fuse sounds from east and west Africa. Hungry for a fuller sound, they brought in Misale Legesse (Ethiocolor, Addis Acoustic Project, etc) on kebero and Cass Horsfall on bass (Black Jesus Experience, Jazmaris, etc) to flesh things out and create Damakase, a name which comes from a plant used in traditional medicine in Ethiopia to heal "gunfan" (cold/flu) and other ailments.
By late 2015 they had enough songs for an album, and asked Kenny Allen to come in as producer.
Gunfan Yellem! (translated roughly as Fever No More!) is an album recorded live in Cory's Glasshouse Studios.
Guest artists were invited to add a little spice here and there, and Kenny fine tuned and tweaked the mix to perfection.
The music is comprised of 6 originals and two covers (Wuba by the Eritrean composer Tewelde Redda, and Mother's Love by the Ethiopian pianist Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou).
In general, Islamic anasheed do not contain lamellaphone instruments, string instruments, or wind and brass instruments, although digital remastering – either to mimic percussion instruments or create overtones – is permitted. This is because many Muslim scholars state that Islam prohibits the use of musical instruments except for some basic percussion.
Nasheed are popular throughout the Islamic world. The material and lyrics of a nasheed usually make reference to Islamic beliefs, history, and religion, as well as current events.
Mohammed Awel [Menzuma] - Engurguro
Nasheed (Arabic: singular نشيد nashīd, plural أناشيد anāshīd, also nashwad (pl.), meaning: "chants"; also nasyid in Malaysia and Indonesia) is a work of vocal music that is either sung acappella or accompanied by percussion instruments such as the daf.
Jazzmaris is a quartet from Ethiopia and Germany, playing since 2007 in Addis Ababa and elsewhere. The composition of the group is: drums, bass, electric guitar and alto saxophone.
Their music’s are Ethiopian melodies played as own arrangements with various influences like Jazz, Rock and improvised music.
The group’s name is a creation of the words Jazz and Asmaris. Asmaris are the traditional musicians of Ethiopia.They play and sing since centuries, expressing the feelings and opinions of the people.
Jazzmaris is giving Ethiopian music a new expression and sound
Jazzmaris - Ye Faransay Djelba (live at Guy's Bar)
The repertoire of Jazzmaris is mostly modern Ethiopian songs of singers like Mahmoud Ahmed, Girma Beyene, Muluken Melesse, Telahoun Gessesse and others. The aim of the group is to play Ethiopian music in a fresh way, giving the music a new expression and sound.
Jazzmaris - 01 - Ene Negn Bai Manesh (10:55)
Jazzmaris - 02 - Ye Fikir Wodmet (Bemin Sebeb Litlash) (12:13)
AddisAbabaBandis Danish 13 member ethio fusion jazz band from Aarhus, Denmark playing music inspired from afrobeat, funk and jazz.
The band was formed in 2010.
AddisAbabaBand - Zion
AddisAbabaBand is as exotic as afrobeat from Aarhus, where the 12-13 man band (they are obviously even in doubt) mixes everything from African rhythms of free jazz and psychedelic rock to funk. It might be a half-pale game, but the Aaroans will happily kick a lot of life and variation into the 10 tracks of the album.
Just the variation is the key to some of the success here, because one must be uncommonly demanding if you get bored or dozens under the 10 tracks AddisAbabaBand delivers on this debut album. 9 of the numbers are their own compositions, and then there has been room for a single cover number in the form of Girma Bèyènèsafrobeat classic "Musiqawi".
And if you think hm hmmm, oh well, yes, yes. I do not know that. Do not worry, I'm in as unexplored territory as you like! My knowledge, and also interest in, afrobeat and the like, confines myself to random meetings at the Roskilde Festival (where I have always been well entertained) and so I know there is someone called "Kuti". And "Ebo Taylor". Fortunately, they mention AddisAbabaBand as inspirational sources in the press so I do not have to feel like the whiteest ignorant man on the musical savannah.
What is the result of that? Certainly a kind of cultural disability, where I'm only available to hear more "western" music. So besides, I also hear some old school hip hop. Hmm ... okay, my defense is a little thin. Perhaps I just did not find or take the time to put myself in the afrobe, partly because of a massive jazz scare that has plagued me for decades, but now under control.
In short, I'm on a small bar bottom, just like the rest of the editors, and do not have the big comparison or reference points that can be pulled out of the toolbox to judge what AddisAbabaBand has captured on the record here. But then we have to go a little differently to work and cautiously feel a little bit - at risk of judging the cases a bit wrong. Itcould be both an advantage and a relief for the band.
Now, with these reservations, I think I really like AddisAbabaBand's deal with the debut. It fluctuates, it is quite sharp, without the feeling of spontaneity and improvisation that I imagine is a fairly large part of the "genre", lost and, in particular, it is well-played. At no time do I think that it's 12-13 Aaronians who take me on an afrobeat excursion, not that music should be thought of in the suit of the practitioner's skin, but there's hardly any worse than an unfunky white man, who thinks he has rhythmic sense.
The numbers are mostly instrumental, which would normally also be a challenge to me, but as mentioned, the plate slides very smoothly and unproblematically, or should you say dances? So the absence of a vowel does not become a brake pad for me. When it finally appears on the album's 6th song, "Skyrim" feat. MhukayesangTarharka J., it gives just a nice spit and extra spice to the already tasty musical dish.
In court you will find everything from songs with a dance-friendly smearing spy movie's feel like "White Man", the more fast-paced, frugal sounding and exciting "Pizzaro", smoked night stamp on
"Piakågerenout" with a deep blow to the mess that you can hear spit freaks. On a song like "Illuminati", the dance-friendly rhythms become more sweaty and warm, while "Jojpe" has some 70's ghetto swag blacksploitation soundtrack over.Most "African" will probably be on "Zion" where, due to the lack of better words, jungle rhythms are almost in it, while "Musiqawi" delivers the most hypnotic moment of the record with insistent rhythms and, eventually, humming cows.
The common denominator of the 10 numbers is that everything is pretty trimmed and greasy fried away. The playing time never feels blown up, despite the fact that the music is never overloaded or too complicated, the soundtrack is in spite of being unlucky or unstructured.
I'm still struggling emotionally to relate to the tones and thus get completely absorbed by them, but if you feel like me, I think that AddisAbabaBand could work like a really nice, fairly easily accessible, but still not for the easy leg, introduction to the afrobeate.
Say goodbye to a dozen Aarhusians!
Ken Damgaard Thomsen
AddisAbabaBand - 01 - Jojpe (4:47)
AddisAbabaBand - 02 - White Man (3:43)
AddisAbabaBand - 03 - Illuminati (3:10)
AddisAbabaBand - 04 - Musiqawi (5:49)
AddisAbabaBand - 05 - Zion (4:04)
AddisAbabaBand - 06 - Skyrim feat. Mhukayesango Tarharka J. (4:26)
AddisAbabaBand - 07 - Pizzaro (5:13)
AddisAbabaBand - 08 - Piakagerenout (4:38)
AddisAbabaBand - 09 - Meter (2:25)
AddisAbabaBand - 10 - Pangea (4:13)
Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Lasse Enøe
Bass, Percussion – Jens Peter Møller
Drums – Martin Aagaard Jensen
Guitar – Jesper Rasmussen, Mikkel Govertz
Keyboards – Simon Gorm Eskildsen
Percussion – Feike Van Der Woude, Martin "Muskel" Madsen
Lalibela, a small town in northern Ethiopia, home to 11 spectacular churches that were carved both inside and out from
a single rock some 900 years ago.
Their building is attributed to King Lalibela who set out to construct in the 12th century a 'New Jerusalem', after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages, even today it is believed that Lalibela pilgrims share the same blessings as pilgrims to Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem theme is important. The rock churches, although connected to one another by maze-like tunnels, are physically separated by a small river which the Ethiopians named the Jordan.
1. blessings 15:12
2. offerings 04:23
film _ vimeo.com/55371955
recorded by Jacob Kirkegaard in Taitu Hotel Addis Ababa, Ethiopia june 2012 produced by Vincent Moon & Jacob Kirkegaard
