Prem Joshua & Chintan: Kashi-Songs from the India Within
Figli Di Madre Ignota: Bellydancer
Noura Mint Seymali: Tzenni
The Top 10 chart took July off, so as you might expect, there are a lot of new albums here, ranging from Ethio-jazz to Italian rock and lots of other things in between. One of my personal favorites is the blast of Afrobeat sound emerging from the 10-member Tragavenao Orquesta Afrobeat hailing from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Also the utterly uncategorizable music of Polish group Chłopcy Kontra Basia. Look up the ones you don't know, and enjoy falling down some new musical rabbit holes.
Selections from each of these albums will be featured on the 8 August edition of Spin The Globe -- listen live via www.KAOSradio.org, or catch the show archive at mixcloud.com/SpinTheGlobe
In a boat crafted of recycled water bottles, a beautiful Ethiopian-American singer / TED Senior Fellow and a brainy Egyptian ethnomusicologist / music activist are about to set sail down the Nile. The goal: Use music--from ear-candy pop to the eldest of traditions--to spark a spirited conversation and change the way people from Uganda to Egypt think about their river, their environment, and their communities.
The musical part of the duo is Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero (who, by the way, is scheduled to perform in Seattle on Thursday as part of the CD release show for Gabriel Teodros's new album Colored People's Time Machine) and her scholarly partner is Egyptian Mina Girgis. Click for more.
Jewish hip-hop isn't exactly a new phenomenon... I'm thinking of Socalled, eprhyme, Hip Hop Hoodios, even the comedy of 2 Live Jews. Even if you're familiar with those artists, Axum brings something new to the table. You may have noticed Axum atop SoundRoots' August Top 10, and for good reason. Bringing their Ethiopian roots to Israeli hip-hop culture, Judah (Gilor Yehuda) and Tedross (Reuben Aragai), from the coastal Israeli city of Netanya, create a compelling blend of new energy and traditional sounds.
A little background from our friends at JDub Records:
Tedross was one of the first Ethiopian-Israelis to be born in the State of Israel, his family emigrating from Ethiopia in 1980, while his mother was pregnant with him. The family struggled with language and financial problems and moved from town to town until they finally settled in Netanya when Tedross was 13. Judah on the other hand was born in Netanya and raised in poverty, ultimately moving out on his own when he was only 16 to try and make it. The duo met each other as teenagers hanging out on the streets of Netanya and each schooled the other on their own musical traditions and backgrounds. From that moment on they were inseparable, giving their full attention to their mutual love of music, and using it to advance themselves out of Netanya to Tel Aviv and better lives.
Does their experience translate for listeners who don't speak the language? "When you hear a song and it makes you feel something, you don’t have to understand a word," says Tedross.
The group is named for the Ethiopian city in which the Ark of the Covenant is said to be held in a well-guarded treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion.
And while you might expect an Israeli hip-hop group to be steeped in politics, in fact the duo write more about the everyday challenges of immigrant urban life. Or so I'm told; I don't understand the words, but I have much respect for the melodic rapidfire delivery and consistently engaging arrangements. Axum avoids aping popular Western hip-hop, though it dips into that genre as well as dancehall and reggae (check out the slow soulful "Laba Hama").
But it's their energetic tunes that get me fired up, particularly when they incorporate traditional sounds such as oud, dumbek, and Arabic orchestral strings. All three are evident in "Knowa," one of my favorite tracks and perhaps the musical missing link between Ethiopia and Israel. But I'm going to give you something with less Jamaica but more Middle East. Indeed, "Hakshivu Na (Listen Please)" sounds like something done in cooperation with Israeli surf-rock band Boom Pam -- just check out that guitar. I'm pretty confident that we'll be hearing a lot more from Axum following this groundbreaking US debut recording. [mp3] Axum: Hakshivu Na
from the album Axum
CD REVIEW
Invisible System: Punt (Harper Diabate Records)
Ethiopian music has been making the rounds in recent years in different forms. Bill Laswell's inclusion of Gigi with the group Tabla Beat Science was a sweet vocal addition to a somewhat technical electro-rhytm outfit. Gigi's sister Tigist Shibabaw joined up with Bole 2 Harlem for some of my favorite Afro-fusion dance music ever. And the continuing Ethiopiques series and Mulatu Astatke have given us many different flavors of Ethio pop, rock, and jazz.
The creation of Dan Harper, who spent eight years working in Mali and Ethiopia (and worked on Dub Colossus' In A Town Called Addis), Invisible System brings another mutation step in Ethiopian musical evolution, with basic flavors familiar from these other albums blended with a variety of trance, dub, downbeat, rock, and electronic music. Fortunately, the additions never quite overshadow the great roots of the music, most distinctively the vocals and the fiddle lines. Start with "Because of You, I Faced So Many Challenges" and "Gondar" and then move on to the more transmogrified songs, and you'll discover a multifaceted album that ties together unseen musical threads.
With a little less sameness among the tracks (and some editing of the indulgent extended guitar solo ironically answering the musical question posed by the song "What Have I Done Wrong"), this could have been a great album. Instead, it feels like an interesting evolutionary stepping stone on the road to something potentially much better. Stay tuned.
[mp3] Invisible System: Because of You, I Faced So Many Challenges
Seemingly right on the heels of his retrospective album New York, London, Addis, Ethiopian jazz great Mulatu Astatke (a.k.a. The Father of Ethio Jazz) shows that he's not standing still with nine tracks ranging from the mellow introspective jazz of "Radcliffe" to the Ethio-Latin sizzler "Boogaloo" (which yes, has hints of the Batman TV theme). The emphasis for much of the album is more on the jazz than the Ethio, with hints of the African coming via a solo here, a chord change there -- and the casual listener might not even mark those tracks as particularly exotic. Only on "I Faram Gami I Faram " and "Mulatu's Mood" are the ethnic roots forefront, and perhaps not surprisingly those are my favorite tracks along with the simmering kora-horn-piano-vibes instrumental "Motherland."
“I desired to ingest West individual styles within this edition and essay newborn structure of using the bonny good of the kora,” explains Mulatu in his own curious vocabulary.
The digital album includes the bonus song "Derashe" which sounds like a free-jazz rehearsal but in fact highlights the diminishing scales of the Derashe grouping of Southern Ethiopia which were integrated into compositions by the likes of Debussy and Charlie Parker.
Though Mulatu is taking a step more toward jazz with this release, there's plenty of appeal for the fan of Ethiopian roots. And his clever integration of styles makes the music work even as your brain is going "huh??"
Lean a bit more about the history of Ethio jazz in this interview with Mulatu -- including how Ethiopia's emperor traveled to Europe in the 1960s and invited some Armenian musicians to teach European instruments to Ethiopian musicians, thus starting this whole crazy and wonderful musical ride. On sale March 30.
You'd never guess from the music that this album comes from the mind of the man who creates the driving bass lines for gypsy punkers Gogol Bordello. Perhaps, instead, from a friend of Bill Laswell's who has spent time in both Jamaica and Ethiopia. Just as Mulatu Astatke's recent retrospective gives us the roots of Ethio-jazz, Tommy T digs into his Ethiopian roots (he was born and raised in Addis Ababa), blends them with his experiences in Western music, and emerges with a fantastic album of Ethiopian-tinged jazz, dub, and reggae.
In this interview video -- at which SoundRoots is excited to give you an exclusive first look -- Tommy explains his concept for the album, how he's been thinking about and working on it for years, and why it will appeal even to people who have never heard Ethiopian music before.
In an interview at Tadias.com, Tommy T (born Thomas T. Gobena) describes his new project as “an aural travelogue that rages freely through the music and culture of Ethiopia.” And he's not alone on this journey. Ethiopian singer Gigi (who you may know from her work alongside husband Laswell with Tabla Beat Science) does vocal duties on the tracks "Eden" and "The Response," both highlights of the album.
Gogol Bordello bandmates Pedro Erazo and Eugene Hutz contribute to the "Lifers" remix. And elsewhere, Ethiopian melodies emerge from the horn section and through the distinctive Ethiopian violin known as masinko. It's a delicate act of production work to keep these traditional bits balanced with all the modern elements (electric guitar, bass, drum kit, organ) and to my ear, it all works. Fans of the Ethiopiques series of reissued recordings will know already that these elements aren't actually new to Ethiopian music.
"In the 70s, funk, wah-wah pedals, and jazz had a huge impact on Ethiopian music," Tommy explains. "The Prester John Sessions will give people an idea about the musical diversity of Ethiopia, which includes influences and ideas borrowed from the sounds of the 70’s with the added bonus of up-to-date production values."
If you've enjoyed your way through the Ethiopiques series, this album will take you the next step to truly modern Ethiopian sounds, alongside Gigi and Bole 2 Harlem (a group featuring Gigi's sister Tigist). It's essential listening for the adventurous ear, and a great gateway to the wonders of Ethiopian music.
"I believe in music without boundaries," Tommy says. "Music should be inclusive, not exclusive. People who love music know the best music is created without boundaries and limitations. The Prester John Sessions take that idea to the next level."
If you were there, if you saw Mulatu Astatke live 40 years ago when his Ethiopian jazz first slithered into the unsuspecting ears of Americans and Europeans, why are you reading this? I'm a latecomer to the wonders of Ethiopian music, enticed by the Ethiopiques series and the more contemporary work of Gigi, Bole 2 Harlem, and the like. This music is a product of contradictions: there's influence from the trade routes from Asia and Arabia, though the landlocked country is relatively isolated on an elevated plateau. The artists who developed Ethiopian jazz and pop clearly were listening to Western music, but used traditional melodies and chords to such an extent that the result sounds like a completely new genre. Like they'd hiked along the jazz river through the funk desert on the way to jazz mountain, but got bored with that and took off through the bush, forging their own path.
However it happend, Ethiopia developed a modern sound that's unique in the world and far removed from the musics of its neighbors in North Africa, Arabia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Mulatu Astatke is one of the pioneers of this music, and has been featured in the Ethiopiques recordings. This recording is, we're told, "the definitive Mulatu career retrospective." Astatke has a fascinating history as a traveling musician, teacher, even radio broadcaster. But you don't need to know any of that to know that his music is golden.
Whether he's playing keyboards or vibraphone or just leading the band, Astatke's music was funky and innovative. Take the 1969 tune "Yegelle Tezeta / My Own Memory," which was featured in the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers. It sounds like Dengue Fever doing Afrobeat with its thick organ lead and tight horn lines. A couple songs later, you're transported a different part of the world with the Afro-Caribbean feel of "Asiyo Bellema," complete with conga and steel pan, which is every bit as funky as any New York boogaloo being released at the time. My early favorite, though, is the track "Mulatu," which was the opening song on his 1972 LP Mulatu of Ethiopia. Funk guitar and staccato horns provide the rhythm as Astatke's vibes shimmer above, alternating with sax and flute. It's the kind of song that sounds ridiculous when described, but is nothing short of delicious when heard. That's the magic of Ethio jazz, and particularly of the astonishing Mulatu Astatke.
Reggae, Afrobeat, dub, jazz, and traditional music all find a home in the songs of Ethiopia. We explored these diverse sounds and more in honor of Haile Selassie's July 23 birthday. Plus a slew of new releases in hour 2.
More on Ethiopian music:
Afropop interview with Francis Falceto: part 1part 2
hour 1 Abyssinia Infinite - Gedawo - Zion Roots Haymanot Girma - Lababel - Omahire Mabert - Laluyeah / Yearning Song - Sleeping in the Market Mulatu Astatqe - Metche Dershe / When Am I Going to Reach There? - Ethiopiques 4 - Ethio jazz Gigi - Kahn - Gigi Sèyfu Yohannès - Mèla mèla - Ethiopiques 1 Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests - Sethed Seketelat - Moa Anbessa Habtu Demse - Amamesso - Ililta! New Ethiopian Dance Music Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - Golgotha - Ethiopiques 21 Alemayehu Eshete - Yeweyn Haregitu / Climbing Vine - Ethiopiques 9 Either/Orchestra - Muziqawi Silt - Ethiopiques 20 Bole 2 Harlem - Hoya Hoye - Volume 1
hour 2 Aphrodesia - Special Girl - Precious Commodity Kartick & Gotam - Heer - Business Class Refugees Rotfront - B-Style - Emigrantski Raggamuffin Mario Poletti - Caballero - Andando Mamadou Diabate et al - Sigui Dyarra - Strings Tradition Kimi Djabate - Fulolon / Ethnicity - Karam Ojos de Brujo - Todos Mortales - Aocana Huun Huur Tu & Carmen Rizzo - Ancestors Call - Eternal Masala Soundsystem - XXI.Wiek - Polska Rootz Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara - Banjul Girl - Tell No Lies Sister Fa - Sister Fa La - Sarabah King Selwa & His Calypsonians - Summerdub - Calypso-Back to Mi Home
Ethiopia: mystical land of Rastafari roots, the origins of humans, and -- this Wednesday at midnight -- a party of epic proportions kicking off the nation's third millennium.
Yes, Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations on the planet. Its borders have varied, most recently with the independence of Eritrea. But the fact remains that it's been around a long, long time.
In ancient times it remained centred around Aksum, an imperial capital located in the northern part of the modern state, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) from the Red Sea coast. The present territory was consolidated during the 19th and 20th centuries as European powers encroached into Ethiopia's historical domain. Ethiopia became prominent in modern world affairs first in 1896, when it defeated colonial Italy in the Battle of Adwa, and again in 1935–36, when it was invaded and occupied by fascist Italy. Liberation during World War II by the Allied powers set the stage for Ethiopia to play a more prominent role in world affairs. Ethiopia was
among the first independent nations to sign the Charter of the United Nations, and it gave moral and material support to the decolonization of Africa and to the growth of Pan-African cooperation. These efforts culminated in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, both of which have their headquarters in Addis Ababa. (brittanica.com)
Ethiopia is also one of my favorite countries to dispel illusions about Africa. When confronted by someone ignorant of the continent's rich musical and cultural traditions, or simply the fact that there are cities and not just thatch huts, I love to dig out something from the wonderful Ethiopiquesseries. Way back in the 1960s, musicians in Addis Ababa were doing crazy, funky, experimental, electric things just like their counterparts in Europe and the USA. And thanks largely to Amha Eshete and his Amha Records label, we've got a great record of that work. Buda Musique is consistently releasing this great material, and is presently on volume 22. Play this for your friends who are ignorant about Africa...it'll blow their minds.
The lyrics for this song say "Your house is at the foot of the hill / I can't touch you, you are so far / you live so far at the foot of the hill / I don't have the strength to go to you."
The Black Eyed Peas will be performing at the official shindig, but don't expect to see many ordinary Ethiopians there, as the ticket price of $170 is twice the average monthly wage.
Completely unrelated to Ethiopia is this question from SoundRoots reader Chantel:
A friend of mine tipped me on this artist/band called Mottasi. I have been searching for more info of them,but with no result. You are my last hope. The artist/band name is Mottasi and the only song i could find on itunes is Sol. they also have a site called mottasi.com Any information is welcome.
Anyone know anything about Mottasi? The website isn't much help.
This week I had the great fun of putting together a radio show to celebrate Ravi Shankar's birthday (it's today!). I'd never played the Kevin Bacon game, but the whole thing was a lot like doing genealogy; after a while you find so many leads you have to start making choices about which ones to follow. (Thanks to Matt for pointing out that Ravi Shankar has a "Bacon number" of 3, according to the entrancing Oracle of Bacon.)
You can see the resulting Spin The Globe playlist (or even listen for the next week or so). I was a bit surprised to learn that I have a third-degree connection to Ravi Shankar through at least two paths.
In my research, I came to a point when I realized how broad this could get. That was the point at which I had connected Ravi Shankar to some prolific collaborators: Ray Lema, Trilok Gurtu, Sting, and Bill Laswell. Laswell alone, it seems has worked with half of all living musicians. Kind of took the challenge out of the search, though it did open up a lot of new connections.
Although I played her little sister Tigist singing with Bole2Harlem, I didn't play any music by Ethiopian singer Gigi, who was (is? are they still together?) with Tabla Beat Science alongside Bill Laswell, Karsh Kale, and Zakir Hussain. Zakir Hussain, of course, has a direct link to Ravi Shankar, having performed with him. So that gives Gigi a second-degree connection to Ravi.
[mp3] Gigi: Enoralehu
from her 2006 album Gold and Wax
Ethiopia's first family of hip strikes again. This time it's Gigi's little sister Tigist, who joins up with Maki Siraj as the voices of a multicultural monster that takes East African grooves to a new level.
Anyone familiar with the marvelous Ethiopiques series of releases will find this album a natural progression into modern sounds. But for the uninitiated, this will be nothing short of a musical revelation, a plexus punch of exotic vocals and catchy beats backed by a wall of horns.
The group grew from a collaboration between Ethiopian-American vocalist/ songwriter Siraj and composer/ producer/ multi-instrumentalist David Schommer, who explains where some of the musical influences originated:
I go to my corner bodega and hear the best salsa and merengue. I walk down to the Ital juice store and hear the best reggae. The Senegalese and Malian vendors are blasting their traditional and modern music. Our album has a little bit of all that stuff in there. Some of the songs, like ‘Hoya Hoye,’ are like a walk down the street in Harlem. I heard one of the hat vendors playing an old school break-beat and thought, ‘Of course! That’s the same tempo as Hoya Hoye!’ Then I came upon one of Harlem’s church choirs spilling onto the streets on a Sunday morning. That inspired the opening line of the song that goes ‘Feelin’ alright!’ We used riffs that could be either from the American Blues or from Amharic Tizita. We are open to all the sounds of Harlem and the experiences of Ethiopia.
This could have been a risky venture. Combining such disparate elements as traditional Ethiopian singing, kalimba, hip hop beats, reggae guitar, dance beats, kora, gospel organ might have resulted in an unpalatable brown stew with indistinguishable ingredients. With the elements tastefully ("gently" seems inappropriate term for such a powerful album) combined, Schommer steps up as a world music force. And Bole2Harlem makes the kind of earthy, danceable music likely to be met with enthusiasm by critics and world music fans alike.
From the Ethiopian port of Bole to the cultural hub of New York's Harlem ("the entry/exit place for Contemporary African Music in America," the liner notes point out), this music starts from the experience of Ethiopians abroad. “Bole2Harlem is about being from Ethiopia and living in Harlem, in America, around the world,” says Siraj. “It’s a journey, one CD that takes you thousands of miles from one place to another.”
Among the myriad projects in which Bill Laswell has a hand, I find few more compelling than Ethiopian singer Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw. They have worked together in Tabla Beat Science, and on Laswell's own albums, including 2002's Book of Exit. Her voice is at once exotic and accessible. It just fits.
The original "Gud Fella" appeared on Gigi's self-titled 2001 album. A limited-release EP was issued in 2002, including the original mix and five remixes of the song by Restless Soul and former Fela drummer and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen.
[mp3] Gigi: "Gud Fella (Restless Soul Inspiration Informational Mix)"
original song from the album Gigi
A good biography of Gigi resides at africadatabase.org
If you like Gigi's vocals, check out fellow Ethiopian vocalist Aster Aweke, or other music from Ethiopia such as the marvelous Ethiopiques series from Buda Musique.
The Either/Orchestra is a ten-piece jazz ensemble based in Cambridge Massachusetts. The Ethiopiques series of recordings is known for re-releasing music from Ethiopia's "golden years" in the early 1970s. What strange events conspired to bring them together?
Let's just say that a chance 1994 encounter between E/O bandleader Russ Gershon and a CD called Ethiopian Groove: The Golden 70s led to E/O's reinterpretation of some Ethiopian classics. And a chance encounter between this music and the ears of Buda Musique's Francis Falceto let to an invitation for E/O to perform at the 2004 Ethiopian Music Festival. And that's where this live 2-CD set originated. That's the story, though the liner notes provide far richer detail.
But I know you're now wondering if this sounds like jazz or like world music, right? Well, yes. And the tilt of that "yes" depends on where you're listening from. Fans of Ethiopian music will hear familiar rhythms and melodies, such as the unmistakable Arabic tinge of "Muziqawi Silt" (which has, in the hands of the Daktaris and Antibalas become an Afrobeat anthem). Less Ethiopized ears may simply hear an adventurous jazz big band experimenting with unusual rhythms and exotic melodic lines. This illusion holds up through most of the first CD, but is shattered on the last track, "Soul Tezeta," when the Motown ballad feeling gets a rich dose of vocals by Michael Belayneh. Also graced with Ethiopian voices are the shuffling "Antchim Endelela" featuring Bahta Gebre-Heywet, and the sublimely torchy "Shellela" sung by Tsedenia Gebre-Marqos. While the Ethiopiques series has provided some great blasts from the past, this latest release proves that Ethiopia's unique and compelling music lives on today. Highly recommended.
SoundRoots / Spin The Globe
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