Ethiopiques S/D

"And in the living rooms of my apartments have been many a throwdown over this comment."

?!?!

My Throwdown With Diamanda

im going to be out of town for the getachew/ex shows in september ;_;

Oh that sucks. They were awesome in Chicago.

yeah, and the ex is prob one of my top 3 live bands ever :(

potentially dumb question I could have googled instead of asking here: what does "Tezeta" mean and why are 1/2 of the best songs called "Tezeta"?

Tezeta (or tizeta) roughly translates to memories (with nostalgia a strong subtext), yearning for something in the past that can never be recovered

its a standard so you are mostly hearing different interpretations of the same song. it is also a musical mode that you can compose in)

in more detail, quoting from a friend's paper
" In the Amharic lexicon one finds three related meanings for the noun tizita. First, it means memory, the enterprise of memory; and some lexicons, though parenthetically, specify it as nostalgia to intimate more pointedly memory (of loss and longing), an intimation that underlines the term’s attendant mood, its melancholy, a mood discernable in the way Amharic speakers employ the term even in the most quotidian exchanges. Secondly, tizita refers to one of the four scales or modes in secular Ethiopian music, a mode in which the term’s lexical meaning finds sonic figuration. Third, and incorporating the two, tizita refers to a signature ballad in the Amharic songbook, a ballad whose sonic and lexical impetus is to figure loss."

now have to go check out that diamanda interview

thank you for the last 6 years of posting, H. It's good to be kept up to date on all this.

Sounds pretty similar to the concept of saudade, in a way.

Hey, thanks sleeve for saying that

Yeah ned, you can draw a link between tizeta, saudade, morna (tho obv saudaude and morna have more obv links)

Curmudgeon, so did you ever made it to the Lincoln Center concert last summer? I put that show together together then, due to airline fuckery, ended up missing it, but all the musicians got there and did get raves for the show which made it somewhat more bearable

I was at the Barbican show last Summer in London and I have to say it was one of the most life affirming, joyous shows I have ever attended...hope they do another...

Curmudgeon, so did you ever made it to the Lincoln Center concert last summer? I put that show together together then, due to airline fuckery, ended up missing it, but all the musicians got there and did get raves for the show which made it somewhat more bearable

― H in Addis, Saturday, August 22, 2009 8:31

I'm from DC and did not make it up there. There are frequently shows in DC (and local Ethiopian bands here) but the gigs are rarely promoted outside the Ethiopian community. I try to look for flyers and Ethiopian newspapers at local restaurants and ask about the gigs. There is a show coming up at the 930 club. I think this is the first time there's been an Ethiopian show there: Ethiopian Labor Day HomeComing w/ Gosaye Tesfaye & Ephrem Tamiru.

Oh, I did see Getachew with the Ex in DC at Black Cat

"Tezeta" is great. Matos wrote about it nicely here or elsewhere I recall.

I missed Mahmoud Ahmed in DC yesterday. He was at a reggae summerfest that had 20 some acts and I decided I did not want to see them all.

Nice 2008 Ethiopian song from Gosaye Tesfaye & Ephrem Tamiru who are currently touring the US. The video takes a few seconds before starting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb3b3SlVE9k

lil story on Getachew & the Ex on French TV.

http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/groove-ethiopien-4513551.html

Awww man, I'm flying out of DC for the weekend and its Ethiopian Appreciation Day at Nationals Park with Mahmoud Ahmed performing at a special banquet event in the late afternoon before the baseball game that night.

ETHIOPIAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION DAY BEGINS AT 3 P.M. AT NATIONALS PARK,
1500 SOUTH CAPITOL ST. SE. $14.75–30.50. EAFC.ORG FOR TICKETS AND INFO

2010 in DC is starting out with Ethiopia's biggest current pop star Teddy Afro in Washington on Saturday. I'm not crazy about his reggae-smooth r'n'b sound.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2009/12/31/teddy-afro-ethiopias-bob-marley-at-the-armory-saturday/

Currently in love with Ethiopiques Vol. 24, especially "Mariyé marwèlèla" by Wubshèt Fisseha & Exception Five Band. Kinda taken aback at how many of the songs sound like Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti source material.

Side note of possible interest: If you haven't visited Awesome Tapes From Africa, it might do ya good to swing by the site. Great selection of items, including [I think] Ethiopia.

will do, thanks.

A thread!: awesome tapes from africa

Gonna miss Mahmoud Ahmed live again (busy with family). He's at the 930 Club in Washington DC Sunday night with Ephrem Tameru.

On the Rolling African thread I wrote about an unnamed DC area Ethiopian woman singer I saw and liked, and about

And I picked up a postcard for the Ethiopian show billed as "for the first time in America Helen Berhe" and "the talented Abraham Gebremedhin with the Zion band Sat. April 30 at DC Star 2135 Queens Chapel RD NE DC ethiostarent.com

Rolling African Music 2011 Thread

I don't really like this concept of "African Music" - I don't think the stuff on the Ethiopiques records, or Ethiopian music generally, has anything to do with music from other countries in the continent. Talking about "African Music" seems to be about as useful as talking about "European Music".

amusingly, that makes ME a curmudgeon. will Curmudgeon now reveal that he is actually a dirty vicar?

Obviously there's a problem with non-Africans tendency to talk about "Africa" like it's a country instead of a continent, but so few people post on that thread anyway that breaking it into even smaller areas of interest would kill it. I don't know enough about Ethiopian music to talk about its similarities or difference in depth, but surely it has commonalities with Eritrean, Somalian, Kenyan, or Tanzanian music. I don't know, maybe more people would post on a Rolling West African thread, or a Rolling Nigerian Music thread, but I would be surprised.

i dunno, is talking about "american" music not useful? and don't people talk about "european" musical traditions? i agree, it's totally problematic in a lot of ways, but i don't know if it's entirely pointless.

Dirty Vicar, curmudgeon may revive the world music thread just for that.

I don't really like this concept of "African Music" - I don't think the stuff on the Ethiopiques records, or Ethiopian music generally, has anything to do with music from other countries in the continent. Talking about "African Music" seems to be about as useful as talking about "European Music".

I'm sure it's irritating for those who know their shit, but for someone less versed it's pretty nice to learn about the range of different styles and traditions.

well I don't know my shit, but having heard an ethio-jazz record I know it has nothing in common with either the Congotronics or Malian record I have also heard.

and don't people talk about "european" musical traditions?

they might do in the context of folk traditions, but no one would talk about "European Music" as a category including The Beatles, Planxty, some Roma musicians from Eastern Europe, a German oompah band*, or a Turbofolk outfit.

*as opposed to various oompah bands from other European traditions

Obviously there's a problem with non-Africans tendency to talk about "Africa" like it's a country instead of a continent, but so few people post on that thread anyway that breaking it into even smaller areas of interest would kill it

^^
This.

no one would talk about "European Music" as a category including The Beatles, Planxty, some Roma musicians from Eastern Europe, a German oompah band*, or a Turbofolk outfit.

no Westerner would, you mean

Getting back on topic, a good general rule with the Ethiopiques comps is that if the cover features people playing saxophones and/or electric guitars then it is worth getting. What is most interesting about the music the series compiles is the 1970s transplanting of various Western musical forms (primarily jazz and beat music) into the Ethiopian setting, subtly altering them in the process. I don't think this music bears any relation to Somalian or Kenyan music, though I would not really know. I understand that the non-Western music that the music on the Ethiopiques comps bears most comparison to is not really from African either, as there is meant to be some similarity in the way scales are used to music from the Arabian peninsula... but I'm not a musicologist and do not really understand all that scale talk.

That said, if you are interested in more traditional Ethiopian music, there will be an Ethiopique record for you. #11 ("The Harp of King David") is a truly fascinating record, this guy singing very quietly while playing some strange instrument with these deep resonating tones.

That's the begena, which is maybe my favourite thing about Ethiopian music. I'm with DV on this one though, Ethiopian music really has very little in common (as far as I can tell) with much else in the way of African music. Even Axumite music is pretty different from Eritrean music, and they're only something like 40kms away and were the same country 100 years ago.

Debo & Fendika, North American Tour going on now. Debo are an Ethiopian-American band influnced in part by Ethiopiques

had debo play at my fest cpl years back, the fendika azmari bet leader melaku is the dancer who regularly tours with getachew & the ex for any who saw that

article on debo by former ilxor cybele http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/06/30/reverent-grooves/

if you feel like popping up to boston tonight the debo horns will be playing with Group Doueh & Khaira Arby, guess this shld go over to the group doueh thread

That would be a nice gig to see. A publicist told me he saw the Debo Horns with Arby at South by Southwest and it was awesome.

Mahmoud Ahmed,Abraham G. Medhin, and Ali Birra Saturday July 30 at DC Star, 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE, Washington DC

Did this series wind down?

series still ongoing

been biting my tongue for ages waiting till the announcement was officially made but very happy that francis is receiving this year's womex award for professional excellence for his work on Ethiopian music
http://worldmusiccentral.org/2011/08/04/francis-falceto-wins-womex-2011/

Very cool indeed.

all the album covers,upcoming album info and some links here http://www.womex.com/realwomex/2011/Francis_Falceto.html#recording

Just talked last night to Selam Seyoum Woldemariam, founder and member of the Ibex and Roha Band and guitarist with Mahmoud Ahmed since 1974. They're on Ethiopiques #7

H, come back

ha, was just abt to send you an email
are you making it to the mahmoud show? he's great live
selamino is a v nice guy

Missed Mahmoud again (was getting ready to head out of town). Ugh. Discovered that his guitarist Selamino (birth name -Selam Seyoum Woldemariam) also plays at a restaurant near me every weekend. I gotta go see him play. He was nice to me when I chatted with him on the phone.

Not on Ethiopiques I don't think, but this guy Hailu Mergia just had a tape reissued by Awesome tapes from Africa. He's a cabdriver now at Dulles airport in the W. D.C. area

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2013/06/21/awesome-tapes-from-africa-reissues-songs-from-hailu-mergia-local-cab-driver/

man, give the guy a gig! that youtube clip is awesome.

I'm just listening to #14 which I hadn't heard before. Very good record. Still wishing I knew exactly which #s were essential. Think this was anyway, so might need to get a physical copy.

Had a chance to buy a number of them cheaply a few years back. Possibly around the time Zavvi was a physical shop in London. Not sure which I already have. Think it's 3, 8, 9, 13, whichever harp of King David is, the one that was recorded specially for the series which i think is either a teen or an early 20s.

Think I inevitably need more and also need to pick up the Kenya Special set which came out a couple of months back.