WORLD BEAT
The electrifying music of Ethiopia with its unique sounds and relentless beat
JOHN CLEWLEY
Although The Very Best of Ethiopiques couldn't be classified as bebop, swing, soul or funk all elements are present. |
The first electric band from the Horn of Africa I saw perform live was the backing band for Sudanese superstar Abdel Gadir Salim, the All-Stars (sometimes called the Merdum Kings). The band had such a distinctive, funky sound, the like of which I'd never heard before - relentless mid-tempo beat, punchy brass, funky basslines. Influences from jazz to soul and R&B could be heard bubbling away underneath Salim's impassioned singing. I was hooked.
I worked my way through Salim's work and that of his compatriot Abdel Aziz El Mubarak and Nubian funketeer Ali Kuban Hasan. Eventually, I heard the classic and still hugely popular hit, Ere Mela Mela from Ethiopia's greatest male popular singer, Mahmoud Ahmed and I've been a fan ever since.
For several years, the French Buda Musique label has been releasing gems from the golden era of Ethiopian jazz and R&B, between 1969 and 1978. So far, more than 20 albums have been released to great acclaim, and in August 2007 a CD compilation, The Very Best of Ethiopiques was released (Manteca in the UK). I've mentioned this 2 CD set before, but I only recently acquired a copy of this wonderful music.
Some readers may have already heard some of the jazz of ethio-jazz legend Mulatu Astatqe from CD 1 on the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's movie, Broken Flowers. The US-Cambodian band Dengue Fever covered one of the tracks featured here on one of their recent albums. Elvis Costello is a big fan, even penning a few words of praise for the compilation liner notes.
Archivist Francis Falceto says in the liner notes that Western marching bands kick-started modernisation of traditional music in Ethiopia, a process similar to that in Thailand and Japan. Military bands were formed first, with brass instruments highly popular. Eventually, privately-funded bands began to dominate the scene, such as the Girmas Band, Al Star Band, Soul Ekos, Ibex Band (later Roha Band), Ethio Stars and Black Lion.
The golden era of Ethiopian jazz came at a time when independence and modernity were sweeping Africa and number of important urban styles emerged like Congolese rumba, Ghanaian highlife, Senegalese mbalax, West African dance bands and South African mbaqanga.
Falceto says that just 500 45s and 30 LP albums were produced during the period. With the fall of Emperor Haile Sellasie in 1974, the era slowly ground to a halt and nightlife and record production ceased completely by 1978.
The introduction of audio cassettes in 1975 and synthesisers - the latter replacing the distinctive sound of brass - also pushed producers out of the market. Many musicians went overseas, with many settling in Washington DC and the surrounding area. This is where Aster Aweke emerged from in the Eighties; and the hottest new singer, Gigi Shibabaw is based in Los Angeles.
And what of the music on the compilation? Well, this isn't bebop or swing, or even soul and funk, yet there are certainly elements of all of these in the music somewhere. First, there is the relentless, mid-tempo beat, infused with traditional percussion and Western cymbals, then circling brass, led by dreamy saxophones. Throw in some funky organ and the end result is a hypnotic groove that is a perfect backdrop to some impassioned singing - Mahmoud Ahmed's classic Ere Mela Mela is included - that is unlike any of the other styles from this region. The singers make a unique wavering sound, not quite the euan of Thai luk thung or the kobushi of Japanese enka because it is done at a faster tempo but nonetheless, very, very catchy.
CD 1 has a more Jazz-oriented flavour, as many of the tracks are instrumentals. I liked this CD more than CD 2 at first perhaps because of familiarity but after listening to the compilation several times, I have started to enjoy the more traditional tracks on CD 2, which features a lot more singing. My current favourite tracks are Tlahoun Gessesse's achingly beautiful Sema and Alemayehu Eshete's James Brown take-off, Telantena Zore. But ask me tomorrow, and I'll probably pick a different track - there are 28 tracks here and every one is a gem. Highly recommended. More information on the other titles in the series from: http://www.ethiopiques.info
This column can be contacted at: jclewley@loxinfo.co.th
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Next
