Ethiopiques, one of the hippest acts of the summer of 08 that recently played both London's high-tone Barbican theater and the rather more dclass Glastonbury Festival. And even though the music is certainly not from round these parts, its hooks and grooves are ones any veteran soul-boy or jazzer can relate to: funky brass, swirling organ, growling sax, rippling congas, ecstatic vocals -- this is not the sound of a national culture struggling to make itself heard over the global noise of pop. Rather, these are artists who 40 years ago itched to be part of it, who dressed like doo-wop boys, played funk, jazz and RnB in Ethiopia's hotel bars and nightclubs and were stars of a scene that, for a while, was known as “Swinging Addis."
Onstage, the natty-tailored, balding guy on vibes is jazz arranger Mulatu Astatq, who once played with Duke Ellington. The priest-like one in the robes is Mahmoud Ahmed, who became Ethiopia's most popular singer, and was once the spitting image of the young Sam Cooke. Almayhu Esht still has the yelp (if not quite the glorious pompadour) of his James Brown days. And, draped in his colorful military cape and now somewhat mangey, lion's mane crown, the shamanic Gtatchw Mkurya would catch the eye in any age, a Sun Ra for the Horn of Africa and beyond.
Performing together for the very first time, these four artists, backed by the Boston-based Either/Orchestra, are playing a series of gigs this summer under the banner of Ethiopiques, the title of a growing catalogue of recordings from the Swinging Addis days unearthed by Francis Falceto, a French promoter of avant-garde and world music for whom this music has been a passion since he first heard Ahmed's record Erh Mhla Mhla played at a party in 1984. “I sent tapes of it to all my radio and DJ friends and they all replied 'What is that? Where is it from?' Nobody knew it, not even those specializing in African music." Starting at Paris's only Ethiopian restaurant, Falceto set out to find Ahmed and to rescue as many recordings of the music he could lay hands on. Along the way he has come to understand the remarkable story of its creation.
(Ethiopiques will be appearing at New York's Lincoln Center on August 20 and at the Festival of World Cultures, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland on August 22.)
For more information contact All About Jazz.
