they did a really good series for Angola too. I only have the two vols. of Angola 70s, but it's some of my favorite music
― rob, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 13:04 (four years ago) link
Buda Musique is the label
https://likembe.blogspot.com/2007/08/angola-80s-plus.html
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 March 2020 19:04 (four years ago) link
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 March 2020 19:05 (four years ago) link
since we’re jumping around the continent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfp1XMljLlw
Wallahi Le Zein!! - Wezin, Jakwar And Guitar Boogie From The Islamic Republic Of Mauritania
― budo jeru, Friday, 27 March 2020 02:27 (four years ago) link
My article on Hailu Mergia who was in Walias Band and guitarist Selam Seyoum Woldemariam who was in Roha Band and backed Mahmoud Ahmed. Both live in the Washington DC area now
https://dcist.com/story/20/04/30/two-local-ethiopian-jazz-greats-have-new-albums/
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 April 2020 23:13 (three years ago) link
https://hailumergia.bandcamp.com/album/yene-mircha
― epicenter of the fieri universe (sleeve), Friday, 1 May 2020 01:43 (three years ago) link
whoa you can get the 3 hailu reissues there on CD for $25 total, that rules
― brimstead, Friday, 1 May 2020 18:49 (three years ago) link
Yes!
― curmudgeon, Friday, 1 May 2020 22:34 (three years ago) link
search
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6VLsipKTJc&Ayalew Mesfin – Lene Anchi Bicha Nesh
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 12 May 2020 20:11 (three years ago) link
Nice.
This may have been have been posted already, but it's beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZnmJE1XIoE
― brownie, Tuesday, 12 May 2020 21:20 (three years ago) link
This is so great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-IxAhumDw
― brownie, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
Both of those last two tracks you posted are wonderful.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 11 June 2020 04:12 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N09oe9eK6c
How did I never see this BBC Under African Skies one hour doc about Ethiopia before? Filmed in 1984, it starts with Aster Aweke in DC and then jumps back to Ethiopia and covers traditional music, religious music, and secular . Walias Band, Roha Band, Alemayehu Ashete and more
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 5 September 2020 02:41 (three years ago) link
xp to that brownie post of the Ali Mohammed Birra song - I listened to that a few times in July after it was posted in June, dug it well enough (as I do most Ethiopiques recommendations), and then sometime a month ago in the early morning hours as I was coming out of a dream and got stuck in that annoying half-dream/half-wake phase where you become aware of the weird quickly-repeating themes/scenes at the end of your dream (or whatever it's like for other people), I kept replaying the horn opening to that "Si Inbanbinsin Warri" song without remembering who it was. There's usually always at least one song from the previous day left rattling around in my subconscious every night, and that was it, but a mystery. I spent a while the next night going through everything new I'd listened to recently, and when I finally eureka'd THAT song, it was such a big ol victory that I did my dishes with the whole album cranked, super into it, a triumph for the spirit of ILM.
along those lines I want to put here the first track from what Stevolende put on the What Are You Listening to? 2020 thread, a newly reissued Sharhabil Ahmed (the Sudanese Freddie King maybe) album that I do believe rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqHJs4O0W4
― the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 5 September 2020 03:14 (three years ago) link
I couldn't find a recording date for the music on the Sharhabil Ahmed cd , liner notes refer to a 1963 e.p. with a couple of tracks whose titles may be different spellings of tracks on the cd. But it did really strike me that that cd does sound like an earlier point in the development of music I'm hearing in the Ethiopiques series. I could do with hearing more of the traditional music from the areas they're right next to each other and both will have interacted with the Arab world though their location on the coast of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.Anyway love both.
The French company that put out the Ethiopiques series also put out Zanzibara which I have 3 discs from which are pretty good. Not sure how well known that 2nd series is.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 5 September 2020 09:06 (three years ago) link
https://youtu.be/OQVsVL7DNMo
Listening to Eritrean traditional singer & krar player Amleset Abay . She moved to DC at some point & had a restaurant where she and other musicians performed in early 1980s ( that I sadly didn’t know of at the time)
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 6 September 2020 19:38 (three years ago) link
there was some traditional ethiopian music that they played on that bbc4 programme, on an instrument called a begena, and it sounded unearthly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBqBnuRlBQ
― koogs, Sunday, 6 September 2020 20:12 (three years ago) link
see also:
https://www.discogs.com/Sosena-Gebre-Eyesus-Sosena-Gebre-Eyesus/release/12947296
― sleeve, Sunday, 6 September 2020 23:16 (three years ago) link
https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/08/12/admass-sons-of-ethiopia-how-a-great-lost-album-is-finding-new-fans/
https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/admas-sons-of-ethiopia-interview
In 1984 some Ethiopians living in the DC area borrowed some $ and recorded an album as Admas and pressed a 1000 copies. Decades later they were selling for a lot on Ebay. A Danish collector living in NYC tracked them down after he bought a copy on Ebay, and he reissued the album. 3 of the band members are back in Ethiopia. 1 tours as Teddy Afro's keyboardist, one is a producer, the other is a music educator.
The album is mostly instrumental and starts with a loungey golden era Ethiopia type track, and has one track with a reggae feel, another with a Brazilian jazz samba portion, and funkier one and one has vocals
― curmudgeon, Monday, 7 September 2020 03:33 (three years ago) link
I have the Ethiop[iques volume with the Harp of Kind David , not listened to it in years. I heard that begena and assumed it was going to be the same instrument and googling it links it back to an ancient instrument linked to Israel the kinnor which was what David played to KIng Saul.
Dig the buzz.
― Stevolende, Monday, 7 September 2020 08:35 (three years ago) link
dang, the reissued LP is already sold out! i like it too, thanks for the tip!
― Karl Malone, Monday, 7 September 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link
http://www.funkfidelity.de/
This website is a good source for golden era Ethiopian music and the various labels it was issued on (pre-Ethiopiques)
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 September 2020 01:22 (three years ago) link
Seeing on Facebook, twitter, & IG that bassist Melake Gebre from the Walias Band has died from cancer at age 71. Am pretty sure he played bass on a great rendition of “Musicawi Silt” by Walias Band arranged by Girma Beyene & including Hailu Mergia on keyboards
― curmudgeon, Friday, 4 December 2020 22:46 (three years ago) link
respect, melake.☮
unrelated—
i realized recently that the last physical music i purchased was the latest fleet foxes album and that has yet to actually be shipped to me, so i went over to amoeba.com and bought every volume of this that they had currently in stock after years of only knowing volume 4. the ones that happened to be in stock at amoeba were volumes 1, 3, and 17. currently halfway through the tlahoun gèssèssè set and just considering buying up the rest of the series and listening to nothing except this music for the rest of my life.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 1 February 2021 22:11 (three years ago) link
you could def do worse w/r/t "rest of life" listening
― Überschadenfreude (sleeve), Monday, 1 February 2021 22:13 (three years ago) link
if they do a box set of the complete series, i'm there.
and they should, btw. if someone can do those ridiculous sets for pink floyd demos and outtakes, a complete ethiopiques set seems like a cinch.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 1 February 2021 22:27 (three years ago) link
This series is like sushi to me. Not my favorite food in the world but I could happily eat it everyday.
― tobo73, Tuesday, 2 February 2021 15:42 (three years ago) link
for me its one of those things where i wont think about it for a long time, but then when i get in the mood it's all I want to listen to for days. and there always seem to be volumes that I haven't gotten around to (or at least didnt absorb the last time i binged). one of these days i really need to go on discogs and just cop them all so i can line them up on my shelf all nice
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 2 February 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
so yeah. . . just decided to hit up another vendor (this time importcds) and got one of everything they had in stock. this is volumes: 6, 7, 8, 13, and 28.
wheeeeee!!
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 2 February 2021 16:59 (three years ago) link
importcds' 20% off when you spend $60+ deal has roped me in many, many times
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 2 February 2021 18:11 (three years ago) link
dude. . . volume 28.
omg how great is this
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 15 February 2021 18:52 (three years ago) link
i haven't heard that one!
I wish there were LPs, boxes, mini-boxes, and also mega-boxes
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Monday, 15 February 2021 18:59 (three years ago) link
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 15 February 2021 19:05 (three years ago) link
I'm on Nagatti si jedha right now, love it of course :D
having just bought some synths, i'm curious which ones they're using
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Monday, 15 February 2021 19:12 (three years ago) link
x-post -- yeah Ali Birra is great. Oromo legend.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 03:17 (three years ago) link
nothing new to add. finally just got volume 13 and it's absolutely killer.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:01 (three years ago) link
THIS POLYRHYTHM IS MELTING MY BRAINhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_T75B9W9ek
holy hell, how do any of the musicians manage to keep their respective grooves?????
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:52 (three years ago) link
god yes its so wild, 13 is one of my favorites... i put it on a few weeks ago while i was installing some flooring and had to take it off because trying to concentrate on anything else while listening to those grooves kept making me flustered and confused
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:09 (three years ago) link
Oh yeah 13 Ethiopian groove has Walias Band doing “Muziqawi Silt” I think. That’s a classic that a number of musicians and groups cover
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 18:36 (three years ago) link
I especially love the polyrhythmic switches from straighter single claps to swung/off-time double claps towards the ends of many songs on the Tigrigna/Eritrean one, Vol. 5:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsS11_hm3Ro
― Kangol In The Light (Craig D.), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 20:39 (three years ago) link
Ali Birra , Mahmoud Ahmed ( Ethiopiques #7 ) and non Ethiopiques Aster Aweke all first came out on Ali “Tango” Kaifa ‘s Kaifa records . Sadly , Ali Kaifa has just passed , I see on Facebook. His role has been analogized to Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic, and Berry Gordy at Motown. Here’s a 2016 article on him:
https://www.musicinafrica.net/magazine/ali-kaifa-man-who-built-ethiopia%E2%80%99s-motown
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 28 March 2021 15:53 (three years ago) link
Label owner Ali Tango Kaifa didn’t get enough acclaim outside Ethiopia . RIP
― curmudgeon, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:33 (three years ago) link
RIP Gash Ayele Mamo, Ethiopian mandolin player and songwriter who played a big role in classic Ethiopiques music
― curmudgeon, Friday, 9 April 2021 18:07 (three years ago) link
This was one of my favorites of 2020: To Know Without Knowing, by Mulatu Astatke w Melbourne-based Black Jesus Experience, incl. trad Ethiopian and Aboriginal songs, among other elements
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2196770380_16.jpg
whole thing is here:https://mulatuastatkeblackjesusexperience.bandcamp.com/album/to-know-without-knowing
― dow, Friday, 9 April 2021 18:22 (three years ago) link
And The Rough Guide to Ethiopian Jazz was my gateway:
01 Mulatu Astatke: Gamo 05:1202 Akalé Wubé: Alègntayé 04:1703 The Budos Band: Origin Of Man 04:5204 Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Friends: Ambassel 07:3605 Tesfa Maryam Kidane: Heywete 05:1306 Tlahoun Gessesse: Aykedashem Lebe 04:5607 Samuel Yirga: Firma Ena Wereket 06:5508 Gabriella Ghermandi: Be Kibir 08:1609 Emahoy Tsegue-Maryal Guebrou: The Homeless Wanderer 07:05
Total Playing Time: 54:42https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1826/7323/products/RGNET1350_2000x.jpg?v=1536217426
― dow, Friday, 9 April 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link
xp yes that Mulatu/BJE record is excellent
― I like signing up to dead sites (sleeve), Friday, 9 April 2021 18:29 (three years ago) link
Another great Ethiopian producer / label owner gone: RIP Amha Eshete, whose Amha Records was notable. He also helped Walias band members after he fled to the US
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 2 May 2021 16:11 (two years ago) link
https://www.musicinafrica.net/fr/node/15368
Earlier bio of Amha Eshete covering his years as a pioneering Ethiopian producer and label owner, plus touching on his later years after he fled to Washington DC and started the Blue Nile and the Ibex restaurant/ clubs.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 2 May 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
Another article on Amha Eshete ‘s Ethiopian years.
https://pan-african-music.com/en/amha-eshete-the-dreamer/
Both of these articles were penned earlier, and are not obits .
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 2 May 2021 16:38 (two years ago) link
Funeral is Tuesday in Ethiopia. Fans of classic Ethiopian golden era music having to deal with deaths of Kaifa, Mamo, and Eshete now over a very short span.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 3 May 2021 15:49 (two years ago) link