Ethiopia:Hailu Mergia- Lala Belu(2018)

The Ethiopian keyboard and accordion maestro's first new LP since his recent career resurgence.

ETHIOPIA/FRANCE: Arat Kilo - Nouvelle fleur (Eklektik 2016)

01. Lancinant (feat. Mike Ladd & Nardos Tesfaw)
02. Wondemiye
03. Madala (feat. Mamani Keita)
04. Ambush in Cairo
05. Zär
06. Nouvelle fleur (feat. David Neerman)
07. (feat. Bruck Tesfaye)
08. Siddist
09. Résister (feat. Rocé)
10. Masarat
11. Cha Cha
12. Siddist Short

Addis Acoustic Project performs in Nairobi, Kenya

Addis Acoustic Project directed by guitarist and arranger Girum Mezmur will perform its Ethio-Jazz set for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya.

Venue: Tree House, Museum Hill
Time: 6 pm, Sunday April 14, 2013
Entry: Kshs 1500
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More news about Addis Acoustic Project

JazzWorldQuest Proposals: "Addis Acoustic Project"

"Addis Acoustic Project" is a six piece band that I formed in 2008. The groups focuses on the 1950's Ethiopian classic melodies and I do rearrangements with the influence of jazz and other contemporary musical styles including East African musical tradtions. Addis Acoustic released an album "Tewesta" in August 2011 on Harmonia Mundi / World Village Label. The group has been featured on various festivals in its home town Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and internationally including Womex'09 in Copenhagen, Selam Festival in Stockholm, and the Rudolstadt Fetival in Germany among others. I very much hope to feature my group on many more jazz and world music stages. Girum Mezmur guitarist/ arranger/ musical directore gmezmur@yahoo.com Facebook Read more proposals at: JazzWorldQuest Proposals Musicians & Labels: Publish your proposals for shows, tours, collaborations, and services (click here to post your announcement)

Samuel Yirga - Guzo (Real World Records 2012)

Guzo is the debut release of young Ethiopian pianist Samuel Yirga. Against the odds, Samuel found his way to music school in Addis Ababa and despite still being in his 20s and only having left music school relatively recently, he has developed at a pace remarkable for someone of his age. He has gone on to become one of Ethiopia's most promising young musicians and composers and in recent years, Samuel has gained wider international recognition through his touring and recording with Ethio-fusion group Dub Colossus.
Real World Records

Getatchew Mekuria + The Ex + Friends Y'Anbessaw Tezeta (Terp African Series 2012)

Getatchew Mekuria - tenor saxophone
Arnold de Boer - trumpet
Terrie Hessels - guitar
Andy Moor - guitar
Katherina Bornefeld - drums
Xavier Charles - clarinet
Ken Vandermark - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Brodie West - alto saxophone
Joost Buis - trombone
Wolter Wierbos - trombone
Colin McLean - bass

Quite unexpectedly, last year, while here in Europe for several summer festivals, Getatchew Mekuria at the age of 76, expressed an urge to make one more recording. With The Ex. Probably the last one in his life. A great responsibility!
We recorded in December, in Wormerveer and Addis Abeba. The result is stunning. Deep, old, classic melodies. Very different from the last one. Instrumental, more sensitive and fragile, deeper. Amazing horn riffs and solos, but also danceable, with up-tempo war-chants. Many things. He called it “Y'Anbessa Tezeta” (In Memory Of The Lion). Memories of 65 years of playing music! But also always new and forward.
But there is more. We wanted to make something special. We added an extra CD, with some historical recordings, including Getatchew and the Instant Composers Pool (ICP), Haile Selassie 1 Theatre Orchestra (1960!) and a live performance with The Ex in Montreal. Plus a 40-page booklet with great photos by many photographers. Matias Corral specially came to Addis to shoot some Getatchew portraits in addition to his already striking black + white live photos. We decided to make this a benefit CD for Getatchew. Everyone contributed for free. After almost 65 years of playing music, we thought this amazing person deserves some kind of pension!
The first time we met Getatchew was early 2004. We were intrigued by his music which we knew from an old cassette. What an original sound! We went to Addis to find him. Getatchew agreed right away to come to Holland for our 25th anniversary party in Amsterdam in November 2004. He played with the ICP and he loved it, but he was also intrigued by The Ex and wanted to play and record with us. We invited some great horn players and things have never stopped since. We recorded the “Moa Anbessa” CD and in some eight years we've done almost a hundred concerts in 15 countries; jazz, world music and rock festivals, and venues all over the world. Lincoln Centre Out of Doors in New York, the French 8 o'clock news with 8 million viewers, Rio Loco in Toulouse to 20.000 people and broadcasted on TV in Ethiopia.
Tracklist
01. Ambassel (7:35)
02. Tezeta (4:22)
03. Bertukane / Yematebela Wof / Shegitu (5:53)
04. Bati (3:45)
05. Ene Eskemot Derese (4:04)
06. Yegna Mushera (4:02)
07. Aha Gedawo (5:00)
08. Almaz Men Eda New (4:21)
09. Abbay Abbay / Yene Ayal (4:25)
10. Zerafewa / Eregedawo (4:12)
Recorded December 6/7 2011, February 24/28 2012, April 5/23 2012 in Jottum, Wormerveer, Holland, and May 3 2012 in Fendika, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.
Terp Records

Ethiopia: Jazz&World Music Festival in Ethiopia

During the last four days, some of the Ethiopia’s finest and most talented jazz musicians and selected bands from abroad have been playing in the “Acacia Jazz Festival & World Music”. It is one of the first "Outdoor Jazz" festivals to be held in Addis Ababa and it is designed to entertain not only jazz lovers but also their families.
by Borja Santos Porras

"The music of Ethiopia is diverse, with very different Ethiopia's ethnic sounds. The Ethiojazz is one of the most famous music styles, born from the mix between jazz and traditional Amharic Rhythm (five-notes scale involving complex circular rhythm patterns)."

Gyrum Mezmur, is a musician and one of the organizers of the festival. He explains: “This is the third edition of the Festival. You can listen to various styles of global music, where Ethiopian and international musicians foster cultural exchange”.

RADIO NEDERLAND

NEW ZEALAND: Mulatu Astatke to play one NZ show

The Powerstation plays host to one of Ethiopia's most treasured musicians when Mulatu Astatke comes to Auckland in November to play his first ever New Zealand show.
Astatke is known as the "Father of Ethio-Jazz", a style of music that combines Latin jazz and early soul and funk with traditional Ethiopian harmony.
The influence of the vibraphone and percussion master has been felt globally since he began performing and recording in the 1960s, and his career has received a recent boost thanks to a new generation of fans discovering his music. Record lovers have dug far and wide for his early vinyl releases, and he has found his distinctive work sampled by the likes of Kanye West, Nas and Damian Marley.
He is possibly best known to mainstream audiences for his musical contribution to Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film Broken Flowers, for which he provided the score and several songs on the soundtrack.
Considered one of the finest and most inventive composers by both beat-heads and jazz-cats alike; Astatke is also a lively and vibrant performer, bringing phenomenal skills, boundless energy and a broad smile whenever he takes the stage.
For this one-off show, Mulatu Astatke is joined by The Black Jesus Experience, an Australian/Ethiopian ensemble who fuse traditional Ethiopian song with jazz, funk and hip hop. The nine-piece group supported Astatke for his recent sell-out Australian shows, having just returned from their own highly successful tour of Europe and .
Mulatu Astatke and The Black Jesus Experience perform at 's Powerstation on Friday 25th November, 2011.
SOURCE

Meklit Hadero's African twist to American jazz

Singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero has made a sensation on the music scene, melding American jazz with the rhthym and language of her native Ethiopia.

There's more to jazz than the swinging standards of The Great American Songbook. Singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero has made a sensation on the music scene with her seemingly effortless meld of American jazz and the rhthym and language of her native Ethiopia.

Hadero's musical stylings have gained critical acclaim in the U.S. Filter Magazine describes her music as “N.Y jazz with West Coast folk and African flourishes.” But what touches her deeply is how audiences receive her when she performs in Ethiopia.

"People really like to see themselves reflected in public images," Hadero said. "Ethiopians will come up to me after shows and say, 'We feel like you're representing us in a way we've never been represented before, keep doing what you're doing, and we're proud of you.'"

As much as her countrymen love her though, some of her Ethiopian audience prefer when she sings traditional songs in the national language of Amharic.

"The songs I sing in Amharic definitely get the people going. Sometimes we'll do traditional songs but I'll rearrange them," Hadero said. She points to her arrangement of an old Amharic love song that roughly translates to "I Like Your Afro" that is well received by Ethiopian audiences.

But in America, Hadero's lyricism in English captivates. With a knack for fine detail, Hadero's words paired with her sublime voice have aided her rise in popularity.

"You find beauty in these extremely small places and details that may mean nothing to a passer-by but become this great symbol to you," Hadero said of her writing.

When Hadero was a toddler, she and her family immigrated to the U.S. Hadero says she and her sister "lost a lot of their language" of Amharic when they were growing up in Iowa. Hadero admits that even as a toddler she wanted to be a singer. The daughter of physicians, Hadero originally studied political science at Yale University. But when she moved to San Francisco, she rekindled her love for music and decided to pursue it.

"I found a community of artists and I dove into [music] full-time," Hadero said. "And it became my life."

Listen & Read more on the Here and Now website.

Source: PRI

IMPERIAL TIGER ORCHESTRA - Mercato (2011)

Follow-up to 2010’s acclaimed EP Addis-Abeba, Mercato is the debut album by Swiss band Imperial Tiger Orchestra, the finest connoisseurs and grooviest performers of Ethiopian music from the Golden Age.

Raphaël Anker, trumpet player from Geneva, one day decides to gather musicians for a live performance revisiting the golden age of Ethiopian music. It's 2007, and the experience is so memorable that the one shot happening becomes a band: Imperial Tiger Orchestra.

Consisting of members with very diverse backgrounds (free jazz, noise experimentations, contemporary music, twisted pop…) the Orchestra tests the grounds with an EP and a 7" breaking the boundaries of genres followed by a trip to Addis-Abeba where they perform with local luminaries and learn about the large diversity of Ethiopian music. A life-changing experience which brings them back to the studio for their debut album: Mercato.

Overseen with flair by Ethiopian music expert Jeoren Visse, Mercato is a mesmerizing re-interpretation of Ethiopian music's golden age mixed with the digitalized themes that appeared in the 80s and filtered through the eclectic influences of the Orchestra. It's a fascinating retro-futuristic piece of music, close yet totally different from the songs that inspired the band. It's progressive Ethiopian rock!

Whether saluting Mahmoud Ahmed on "Lale Lale", re-interpretating the classic wedding theme "Shinet", or taking Martha Ashagani's "Zoma" to new heights, the Orchestra always does it with its unique vision while honoring the Ethiopian originals. Thunderous rhythms and feverish hooks, down tempo moments and fast paced epiphanies, electronic sounds and ambient nirvanas, Mercato explores multiples paths and never loses 
its warm groove. A winter Mercato sure to bring fire to stages this summer!


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Arat Kilo - "A Night In Abyssinia"

Ever since the Ethiopiques CD releases reminded the west about the extraordinary music that could be heard in Addis Ababa in the golden era of the 1960s and early 70s, there has been a flurry of very different fusion bands making use of Ethiopian influences, including this young French five-piece who take their name from an Addis monument. They are good players who mix funky guitar with bass, drums and horns – brass was often a crucial ingredient in the Addis sound – and they have mastered the distinctive, at times Arabic-sounding Ethiopian style. All that's lacking is a sense of energy and fun, especially in their instrumental treatment of a piece by the country's best-loved singer, the late Tlahoun Gèssèssè. Their own Ethiopian-influenced tracks include a jazzy collaboration with the rapper Socalled, but they are at their best when joined by African celebrities. Mulatu Astatke, the veteran "father of Ethio jazz" plays vibes on his own Dewel, while the best track, Get a Chew, is transformed by the exquisite, drifting, Ethiopian-edged vocals from Mali's Rokia Traore. With more help like this, they would sound very good indeed
Source:Guardian