― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 23 September 2005 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Beta (abeta), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:21 (eighteen years ago) link
more tour and other info below http://either-orchestra.org/newsEthio20PR.html http://web.joespub.com/caltool/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&performanceID=1257 http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19330
― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 11:39 (eighteen years ago) link
Film Puts a New Focus on the Master of 'Ethiojazz' By BEN SISARIOPublished: October 13, 2005
In Jim Jarmusch's latest movie, "Broken Flowers," a graying former ladies' man played by Bill Murray has a strange companion with him as he searches for some old girlfriends, one of whom may have borne his son. He's gloomy but intrigued by the quest, and his mood is matched by the passenger in his rental car: a CD of brooding and mysterious music, a little funky and a little slithery, a bit like a 1970's blaxploitation soundtrack and a bit like dense modal jazz. He never seems to know what to make of it, but he clearly likes it.
The music is a particularly obscure vintage made in Ethiopia in the late 1960's and early 70's by a jazz innovator named Mulatu Astatke, and thanks to "Broken Flowers" and an acclaimed series of CD's, his music has enjoyed a little renaissance lately. A prominent figure in Ethiopia but barely known to Western listeners, Mr. Astatke makes a rare United States appearance tonight at Joe's Pub with the Either/Orchestra, an avant-garde jazz group that has championed him.
From the moment Mr. Jarmusch first heard it, about six years ago, the music got under his skin, he said, and he began seeking it out wherever he could find it. "When I was writing 'Broken Flowers,' " he said by phone from his home in the Catskills, "I was listening to a lot of his music, and I was thinking, 'How do I get this music into a film that's set in suburban America?' It even led me to make the character of Jeffrey Wright of Ethiopian descent." In the film, Mr. Wright's character, Mr. Murray's next-door neighbor, gets him started on his journey and hands him the disc. Several songs by Mr. Astatke are used prominently in the film, and are on the soundtrack album, released by Decca.
Mr. Astatke, a vibraphonist and bandleader, had a suitably cosmopolitan upbringing for a music that blends jazz with funk, Latin music and traditional Ethiopian five-tone scales. Born in 1943 in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, he was one of the few musicians of his generation to be educated abroad. He went to the Trinity College of Music in London, where he studied clarinet, harmony and theory, and in the early 60's attended the Schillinger House of Music in Boston, now the Berklee College of Music.
"My whole idea," he said by phone the other day from his home in Addis Ababa, "was sort of fusion with Ethiopian and jazz and modern music. I started at Berklee this idea of the 'Ethiojazz' business. From there I came to New York and I had this group, and what I wanted to do, I did it there."
His group in New York, the Ethiopian Quintet, was mostly Puerto Rican. He recorded two albums in the 60's on a small New York label, Worthy. He jammed with Dave Pike, who was Herbie Mann's vibraphonist at the time, and remembers his time here fondly.
"We had all these big bands," he said. "And the Village Gate, the Village Vanguard, the Palladium - there were all these clubs around at that time." He was surprised and delighted to learn that the Vanguard is still in business. "It's still around?" he said. "Fantastic! Wow!"
Mr. Astatke returned to Ethiopia in the late 60's and took part in a fertile musical scene there in the waning years of Emperor Haile Selassie, who was deposed in 1974. Establishing himself as a jazz ambassador, he brought the Hammond organ and vibraphone to Ethiopia. "I changed the whole Ethiopian music," he said without shyness, "combining jazz and fusion with the Ethiopian five-tone scales. Since then my name has been on the very, very top of the Ethiopian musical scene."
The music of that period, influenced by American funk and soul, is being collected in "Éthiopiques," a series of albums on the French label Buda Musique, which since the late 90's has run to 20 volumes. Mr. Astatke's disc, Vol. 4, is its best seller and has seen a bump in sales since "Broken Flowers" was released in August. It is now selling about 1,800 copies a week, said a spokeswoman for Allegro, the albums' American distributor; that is equivalent to the sales of a new album by a world music star like Youssou N'Dour.
Last year the Either/Orchestra, led by the saxophonist and composer Russ Gershon, performed in Addis Ababa and met Mr. Astatke. The group has since brought him to the United States for concerts twice, the first times Mr. Astatke had performed in New York in many years. After performing at Joe's Pub tonight, they will go on a brief Northeastern tour, traveling to Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.
Mr. Astatke said he had been following news of "Broken Flowers" by e-mail ("I'm very far away") but had not yet seen them film in its entirety. He added, with a laugh, "I'm going to see it in New York."
― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link
Was I there? I just heard about this stuff recently, and I have a feeling I'd really like it.
― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 3 November 2005 23:15 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19126
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19598
― H (Heruy), Friday, 4 November 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Friday, 4 November 2005 14:33 (eighteen years ago) link
I think I am gonna be busy with my kid and will have to miss it. My son loves Ethiopian food, not so sure about the music. I need to check out the food and music at all those newish Ethiopian restaurants around 9th and U in DC.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 4 November 2005 14:40 (eighteen years ago) link
that's awesome about the mulatu astatke shows!
― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Friday, 4 November 2005 15:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Friday, 4 November 2005 15:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 16:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― bob snoom (vestibule), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 17:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wolfcastleee (Leee), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 20:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― greypejooze (Ryanssssss), Monday, 2 October 2006 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.afropop.org/radio/radio_program/ID/666/Ethiopia%20Part%201:%20Empire%20and%20Revolution
― H (Heruy), Thursday, 26 October 2006 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link
saw mahmoud ahmed play outdoors yesterday, GREAT performance!!
― s1ocki, Monday, 9 July 2007 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link
JEALOUS!
― Alex in SF, Monday, 9 July 2007 21:54 (sixteen years ago) link
he was awesome! and the band was smoking hot.
― s1ocki, Monday, 9 July 2007 22:03 (sixteen years ago) link
and people were going nuts. clearly a big event for the ethiopian community. much happiness all around.
― s1ocki, Monday, 9 July 2007 22:05 (sixteen years ago) link
just noticed in the latest wire issue (aug, 2007) that manteca will be releasing ‘the very best of ethiopiques’. 2 cd’s / 28 tracks. should be a useful taster for someone like me who hasn’t heard any of the series so far. (not too sure about the elvis costello quote on the front though).
link
also.....here’s an e-music dozen dedicated to ethiopiques:
e-music 12
― sam500, Monday, 30 July 2007 08:26 (sixteen years ago) link
really can't recommend #21 ("ethiopia song," solo piano) enough. listen to it while the nights are still hot. if they're hot where you are.
― s1ocki, Monday, 30 July 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'll second the recommendation for #21 -- really gorgeous stuff! Don't know exactly what to call it, but I love it all the same. Is there anything else like this?
― tylerw, Monday, 30 July 2007 15:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I'll third the recommendation on #21: Definitely hints of blues and jazz, but using Ethiopian scales. Kind of hard to describe. Great night music.
― Jazzbo, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:27 (sixteen years ago) link
yes. haunting.
― s1ocki, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link
jazzbo, that's what's so interesting and great about #21 -- there are elements of it that sound *almost* bluesy, *almost* jazzy, *almost* gospel-y, but it seems kind of doubtful that she's actually heard all that much of those kinds of music. It's like she's inventing those genres from scratch.
― tylerw, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Exactly.
― Jazzbo, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:39 (sixteen years ago) link
let's not get carried away here. she studied music in europe, chances are she heard jazz.
― s1ocki, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link
hmm, yeah, probably -- but I guess what I mean is that her music doesn't sound tied down to anyone's conception of jazz/blues/gospel. it seems to be coming from a more personally expressive place. if you know what i mean.
― tylerw, Monday, 30 July 2007 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Mahmoud Ahmed, Neway Debebe, Maritu Legessese, Setegn Aregaw, Kuribachew W/Mariam...and more at the Washington D.C. Armory September 8th for an Ethiopian Millenium Celebration (more than 25 Artists including dancers and musicians )
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 August 2007 05:06 (sixteen years ago) link
oh, fuckin a, that sounds awesome!
― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 30 August 2007 14:58 (sixteen years ago) link
go see mahmoud ahmed!!!
(and everyone else)
― s1ocki, Thursday, 30 August 2007 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
i totally will. i guess alemayehu doesn't play anymore, but i would give my left nut to see him perform.
― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 30 August 2007 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link
You have exactly one week to learn how to dance skista.
― nabisco, Thursday, 30 August 2007 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
alemayehu does perform, you just have to come to ethiopia to see him
fyi re the new best of ethiopiques 2 CD set, stellar reviews so far
http://www.unionsquaremusic.co.uk/reviews.php?ALBUM_ID=1017&LABEL_ID=2
http://ethiopiques.info/
― H in Addis, Thursday, 30 August 2007 16:52 (sixteen years ago) link
everyone who can't get to DC or Ethiopia is invited to my place on Sept 9 for a millennium celebration, we'll be playing mahmoud and tibebu workye and mulatu astatque and gigi and teshome mitiku
― Dimension 5ive, Thursday, 30 August 2007 18:41 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.ethiopianmillennium2000.com/millennium.html
― curmudgeon, Friday, 31 August 2007 05:31 (sixteen years ago) link
The website does not list the names of the performers (in English at least) I had to e-mail them several times before I could find out the names listed above.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:49 (sixteen years ago) link
You know, I was just thinking that I was surprised they've done a volume of Tigrigna music, but never a comp of trad Gurage stuff, which I think their audience would REALLY go for -- and then some YouTube clicking around videos of Gurage music leads me to Tewodros & Abraham's "Gurageton," which is ... okay, I just get a kick out of seeing an MC clutching a carafe of tej!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhZjrxUpxfE
― nabisco, Saturday, 8 September 2007 22:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Wow, reggaeton has reached the Gurage people of Southwestern Ethiopia.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 9 September 2007 01:59 (sixteen years ago) link
The dancing in that video totally kicks ass.
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 9 September 2007 02:07 (sixteen years ago) link
I like the ending too.
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 9 September 2007 02:08 (sixteen years ago) link
And tell us about that drink? I guess I could just look it up, since you gave the name.
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 9 September 2007 02:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Mmm. Honey mead something or other.
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 9 September 2007 02:21 (sixteen years ago) link
It's v. good.
Really need to get the rest of the series. I scored about half of them in the Great Tower Bankruptcy Firesale.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 9 September 2007 02:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Yea, Tej is good. Busy with family I missed the big Ethiopian show with Mahmoud Ahmed and many others last night. Maybe I can make the outdoor event near the Washington Monument this week--I think there will be music at it.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 9 September 2007 14:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Out of curiosity, how do people who like the Ethiopiques vintage stuff feel about late-80s/90s/current material -- i.e., the more laid-back digital-keyboard style?
― nabisco, Monday, 10 September 2007 16:51 (sixteen years ago) link
i do not know it at all!
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 01:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Just a random example of Ethiopian semi-trad pop (as opposed to, you know, more global pop sounds) -- Netsanet Mekonen. This just seems like one where you can hear plenty of continuity from the kind of stuff on Ethiopiques:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tPFkqZKm_sI
Sadly, 90% of Ethiopian-music comments boxes on Youtube are now flamewars involving someone called EritreanBabe. On the plus side, some guy has a bunch of "old-school" TV clips that are basically like Ethiopian Soul Train, and some guy has done a "Habesha Idol" clip that involves him putting in fake teeth and doing a solid speaking imitation of an older-generation Ethiopian.
― nabisco, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link
for anyone in teh Boston area
free lecture/demonstration Friday, September 28, 3 pm : "From Azmari to Jazz and Pop: Ethiopian Traditional and Modern Music." New College Theatre Rehearsal Studio, 10-12 Holyoke St. For more information, call 617.495.8676. http://140.247.118.196/lfp/details.cfm?EVENT_ID=7194
Either/Orchestra with special guests Hana Shenkute, Setegn Atanaw, Minale Dagnew and Mulatu Astatke The Somerville Theatre Davis Square, Somerville MA September 29, 2007: 7 pm tix: $28 http://www.worldmusic.org/concerts_event_indiv.php?p_seq=624
also, was rereading the thread and saw this "volume 10 - tezeta - is also fantastic. A beautiful Seyfou Yohannes track " reminding me that the Seyfou Yohannes track, Tizeta, was sampled for Common's "The Game"
― H in Addis, Thursday, 20 September 2007 09:34 (sixteen years ago) link