MUSIC

A historic meeting point between Ethio-jazz and ambient jazz. Born out of Bristol’s Bloom collective, the eight-piece Afro-jazz band Tezeta sees their 2016 debut album Seventh Place finally issued on vinyl via KLANG TONE RECORDS. Exotic Fender Rhodes lines recalling Hailu Mergia, the psychedelic shimmer of vibraphone and marimba, fiercely jazzy saxophone, and the driving force of contemporary Afrobeat converge into a sound that is both refined and full of fire. The 6/8 rhythms radiate the spirit of Ethio-jazz, while the group’s modern sense of crossover resonates with European ensembles such as Debre Damo Dining Orchestra and Langendorf United. A meditative Afro-jazz gem, and one to recommend also to fans of ambient jazz.

Strut present the first official reissue of a landmark album in the field of African music, Mulatu Astatke’s ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ from 1972. Recorded in New York, the album arrived at a time when Astatke had begun to master the delicate fusion of styles needed to create Ethio jazz. “I left the UK for America and studied at Berklee College in Boston. I learnt the technical aspects of jazz and gained a beautiful understanding of many different types of music. That’s where I got my tools. Berklee really shook me up.” Journeying regularly to the Big Apple to play and watch live shows at the Cheetah, the Palladium and the Village Gate, Astatke met producer Gil Snapper on the circuit. “Gil was a nice and very interesting guy. He produced music and worked with all kinds of musicians.” The meeting would lead to a series of albums on Snapper’s Worthy label. The first, ‘Afro Latin Soul’, documented Astatke’s new-found directions. “Mulatu has created a new sound,” enthused Snapper on the album jacket. “He has taken the ancient five-tone scales of Asia and Africa and woven them into something unique and exciting; a mixture of three cultures, Ethiopian, Puerto Rican and American.” A second volume of ‘Afro Latin Soul’ followed before Astatke began to hone his sound further, infusing funk and Azmari “chik-chikka” rhythms into the mix. Returning to a downtown Manhattan studio with Snapper and working with some of the city’s top young jazz and latin session players, ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ began to take shape. “We rehearsed for 3-4 weeks,” remembers Astatke. “it took them a while to get the right feeling in the music.” The resultant album represented the first fully formed document of Astatke’s trademark Ethio jazz sound. It features ‘Kulunmanqueleshi’, ‘Dewel’, and ‘Kasalefku-Hulu’, tracks that Mulatu would return to regularly on singles and in live shows, the Ethio-Latin workout ‘Chifara’ and the self-titled groover ‘Mulatu’ (“I wanted to make a track for…. myself!”).

Ethio Rock'n'Roll. Orchestras & Rhythm, Fuzz and Wahwah Guitar in Ethiopia & Eritrea, 70s & 80s. Selected by: DJ Mitmitta2nd pressing. C60 cassette comes in a silkscreened cardboard box. Edition of 50.

On Minimalistic ethio 80’s and 90’s from audiotapes የሐር ሽረሪት, DJ Mitmitta threads together lo‑fi synth jams and cassette‑era instrumentals from unsung Ethiopian bands, where battered Casios and drum machines sketch hypnotic, pastel‑toned echoes of wedding halls and roadside bars.Minimalistic ethio 80’s and 90’s from audiotapes የሐር ሽረሪት is a love letter to a very specific corner of Ethiopian music history: the moments on old cassettes when the singer leaves the room and the backing band just keeps going. Curated by DJ Mitmitta, the compilation gathers a “lovely bunch” of mostly instrumental cuts from various groups working in the 1980s and early ’90s, all of them leaning on Casio keyboards, drum‑machines and cheap synthesized timbres to stretch a mood across the standard 60‑minute tape. Some of these tracks began life as filler - end‑of‑album jams laid down to round out running time - yet heard together they reveal a parallel universe of minimal, hypnotic ethio‑electronics that was hiding in plain sight on the B‑sides and fade‑outs of the cassette era.The focus is squarely on groove and atmosphere rather than virtuoso display. Simple pentatonic keyboard lines snake over rigid drum‑machine patterns; bass figures loop with small variations until they become a kind of trance; cheap synth brass and organ sounds approximate the colours of traditional ensembles in an unmistakably 80s palette. What might have been background in its original context moves to the foreground here, letting the listener hear how these bands translated classic Ethiopian modal language into a bare‑bones, garage‑electronic idiom. There’s a homespun futurism to it all: you can feel the constraints of the machines and the tape, but also the pleasure of musicians pushing those limits just enough to make the dancefloor—or the living room—sway.Mitmitta’s selection highlights a cast of names that deserve to be said out loud. Among the players whose tapes are tapped here are ይስሃቅ ባንጃው (Yishak Banjaw), ዘሪሁን ወዳጆ (Zerihun Wdajo), እልፍነሽ ቀኖ (Elfenesh Kano), ቴዎድሮስ መኮንን (Tewodros Mekonnen), ወሰንየለህ መብራቱ (Wesneylehe Meberatu), ስፈልግ አያሌው (Seflege Ayalew) and ታደሰ ላቀው (Tadsse Lakew) - artists better known, if at all, for vocal releases, but whose bands clearly relished the chance to stretch out when the mic was off. Here, their anonymous interludes become the main feature, revealing shared aesthetic threads: unhurried tempos, gently melancholic melodies, a fondness for repetition that never quite tips into monotony.The physical edition underlines the project’s tactile, cassette‑culture roots. Cover art comes from Skinny Digital, given grain and texture through risoprinting by If By Magic in Helsinki, Finland, while each copy is dubbed onto recycled tapes by Jouni “Kasettijeesus” Kontulainen. That choice isn’t just a retro affectation; it echoes the very conditions that produced the music in the first place, when blank cassettes were precious, nothing was wasted, and “extra” minutes became a playground for minimal synth experiments in an Ethiopian idiom. Spooling through these tracks now, you hear not only a treasure‑trove of lo‑fi ethio grooves, but the sound of time itself stretching and fraying on magnetic tape - a small, crackling portal back to another listening culture.

The Ethio Jazz album by Mulatu Astatqé is a jewel of the modern Ethiopian music and a mythical album, since the beginning of Ethiopian music reissues. An incredibly groovy Ethiopian record, originally from 1969-1972. Amazing orchestral 'Ethio-groove' filled with US soul, jazz, sometimes Latin and the deepest Eastern rhythms, even including some great nasty and dirty fuzz guitars. A true gem of Ethiopian modern instrumental music, which illustrates perfectly this symbiosis of strong rhythms and quality arrangements of subtle yet deep Ethiopian melodies. A must for all '60s/'70s collectors! In the Ethiopian musical landscape, Mulatu Astatke is a unique musician, composer, arranger. His real contribution consists in his action for instrumental music, in a country where orchestral traditions doesn't exist. For the last 30 years, he is the leading head of the Ethiopian musical scene. First vinyl reissue and definitely one of the most important Ethiopian music albums.

The second LP compendium of Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru’s early solo piano works, recorded throughout the 1960s – finally available again. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear!

These original compositions, performed by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru herself on solo piano, were originally self-released in Germany in small editions as fundraisers for orphanages, support organizations for widows of war victims, and other philanthropic causes. We are humbled and proud to present this album in collaboration with the EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM MUSIC PUBLISHER and Foundation, and to assist in continuing her life-long mission of using music as a vessel to care for those who have been abandoned by society, or harmed by strife.

Black vinyl LP comes in black inner-sleeves and heavy cardstock jacket with color printing and gold-foil stamping, and song notes by the composer herself. Restored and remastered by Timothy Stollenwerk.

First volume of solo piano compositions by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, finally back in print. Born to an aristocratic family in Addis Ababa in December of 1923, Emahoy spent much of her youth and young adulthood studying classical music in Europe. She returned to Ethiopia in the 40s, where the war interrupted her musical studies. In 1948 during a church service in Ethiopia, she found her faith and began years of religious training. Throughout her physical and spiritual journeys, Emahoy continued to compose for the piano. She first released this album in Germany 1963 as small private press record. The tracks reflect her own travels, seamlessly moving between Western classical and traditional Ethiopian modes, evoking Erik Satie, the orthodox liturgy, and meditative Christian music all at once. Her work is like no one else in the world, lyrical, hypnotic, full of spiritual warmth and a direct connection to the divine. Emahoy is now 98 years old and still lives in Jerusalem. She continues to play, and the funds from her work go to the righteous causes to which she has dedicated her life. We are incredibly proud to present this music on vinyl again, mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk and presented in collaboration with the EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM MUSIC PUBLISHER and Foundation. This black vinyl LP version includes a new reproduction of the original artwork, with the composer’s own notes, translated from the original German.

Hailu Mergia is a one-man band. In 1985, master accordionist and veteran bandleader, arranger and keyboardist released the Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument cassette. In a nostalgic effort to bring back the vintage accordion sound of his youth, Hailu gave Ethiopian music a sonic makeover. He was already celebrated for his work with the groundbreaking Addis Ababa ethio-jazz and funk outfit Walias Band. With imagination and a visionary sense of the self-contained possibilities of modern music, he captured the popular sounds of the past using the modern tools of the day. Hailu Mergia weaves Moog and DX7 synthesizers, Rhodes electric piano and rhythm machine into the rich harmonic layering of his accordion, creating hauntingly psychedelic, elegantly arranged instrumentals. These tunes draw from famous traditional and modern Ethiopian songs, as Hailu brilliantly matches lush Amhara, Tigrinya and Oromo melodies with otherworldly flavors soaked in jazz and blues, synthesizing a futuristic landscape. He balances Ethiopian music's signature melodic shape with beautiful analog synth touches, floating upon clouds of hypnotically minimal rhythm tracks. Hailu Mergia was born in Debre Birhan, Showa Province, Ethiopia in 1938 (1946 in the European calendar) to parents Tewabech Ezineh and Mergia Lulessa, who were of Amhara and Oromo ancestry, respectively. His mother took him to Aynemisa, close to Addis, where he grew up from age 3 until he was 10 when they moved to the capital Addis Ababa. Hailu went to Shimelis Habte high school but dropped out before graduating. In 1952 (1960 in European calendar), he joined the army music department as a boy scout to support his mother. Mergia stayed in the army almost two years, learning how to read and write music. After Hailu left the army, he started singing in small bars as a freelance musician. He joined various pick-up bands, touring across the Ethiopian provinces as a singer and accordion player for almost a year. After the group broke up, he started performing in nightclubs like Addis Ababa, Patrice Lumumba, Asegedech Alamrew, Sombrero, Zula Club and others. At Zula Club he and his mates formed Walias Band and did something no other band in Ethiopian nightclub history had done: they started buying their own musical instruments. Until then the club owners were supplying the instruments and had the power to fire musicians at will. For the first time ever Walias Band signed a contract with the owner of Venus Club as a group thereby protecting themselves from club owners. Mergia and Walias Band went on to do gigs at hotels like Wabi Shebele and the Hilton. After playing almost eight years at the Hilton Hotel, Mergia and Walias Band came to the United States and toured widely in 1982-1983. Afterwards, some of of the band stayed in America while others went back to Addis. That was a heartbreaking time for the band. They considered themselves a family, and they knew they had broken new ground in the history of Addis nightclub musicians. They had helped make the Ashantis Band from Kenya famous in Addis. They were the first private band who played for state dinners at the palace for the Derg government (twice). And, they were the first private band to tour the USA. After the break-up of Walias Band, Mergia settled in the States and formed Zula Band with Moges Habte and Tamiru Ayele, playing in different restaurants and touring in the States and Europe. At that time, Mergia made a one-man band recording with accordion for the first time, mixing in Rhodes electric piano, Moog synthesizer and a rhythm machine. That was 1985. This recording was inspired by the early memories of his first instrument, the accordion. After the break-up of Zula Band in 1992, he quit performing and ran Soukous Club for seven years with his partners Moges and Tamiru. Nowadays he's making his living as a self-employed taxi driver at Dulles International Airport while continuing to record his music and practice as often as possible. The reissue of this recording brings back a moment when Ethiopian music was shifting from acoustic-based performances to recordings using more and more synthesized elements. While the results of that shift have their critics Hailu Mergia's initial experiments with solo instrumental music based on Ethiopian folk and popular music captures a singular feeling dripping in ambiance and very human emotional energy.

Deeply resonant spiritual music transmitted via piano, organ, and harmonium by beloved composer and Ethiopian Orthodox nun Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru.

Church of Kidane Mehret collects all the musical work from Emahoy’s 1972 private press album of the same name, alongside two additional unreleased piano recordings, exploring Emahoy’s take on “Ethiopian Church Music.”

Recording herself in churches throughout Jerusalem, Emahoy engages directly with the Ethiopian Orthodox musical liturgy. For the first time, we hear Emahoy on harmonium and massive, droning pipe organ, alongside some of her most moving piano work.

“Ave Maria” is one of our favorite pieces Emahoy ever recorded, her chiming piano reverberating against ancient stone walls. Her familiar melodic lines take on new resonance when played through the harmonium on “Spring Ode - Meskerem.” Two towering organ performances comprise the B Side, combining Emahoy’s classical European training with her lifelong study of Ethiopian religious music.

Nowhere is Emahoy’s unique combination of influences more apparent than on “Essay on Mahlet,” a meditative slow burner in which Emahoy interprets the free verse of the Orthodox liturgy note for note on the piano. This revelatory piece, alongside the dramatic piano composition “The Storm,” comes from another self-released album, 1963’s Der Sang Des Meeres. Only 50 copies were ever produced (and no cover). One of the only known copies was saved from the trash and shared with Mississippi by a fellow nun at Emahoy’s monastery when we visited for Emahoy’s funeral in March of 2023.

We are proud to work with the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Foundation to bring you these rare spiritual recordings in what would have been the artist’s 102nd year.

Available in black and clear vinyl editions. Old-school tip-on jacket with metallic silver foil stamping along with a 12-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes from scholar and pianist Thomas Feng.

Kaethe Hostetter is a classically trained American violinist who embedded herself in Ethiopian musical life for 12 years, absorbed its melodic systems and spiritual weight, and re-emerged with a solo, psychedelic, loop-based violin ritual that refracts Ethiopian classics through dub, psych rock, and avant improvisation. This is a collection of musical vignettes by American violinist and composer Kaethe Hostetter. Sourcing from her 11 years living in Addis Ababa, she transports you to the bustling streets of the East African metropolis, evoking the crackling sounds of a saxophone blaring out of a barbershop radio, a shepherd's flute melody turned dub reggae, the fervent dancing on packed dirt floors of a rural honey-wine bar, and the big band sounds of Ethiopia's "Golden Era".

Electronic lullabies and folk songs from Ethiopia! A landmark recording from Ethiopia’s vibrant cassette era of the 1980s, Resonance of Time features pioneering composer Wesenyeleh Mebreku reimagining Ethiopian folk melodies through the humble circuitry of an early Casiotone keyboard. Historically, the works featured on Resonance of Time (የጊዜ ቃና Yegizie Kana) stand as quiet documents of Ethiopian musical memory. Many of the original songs included in this release emerged during important moments in Ethiopian history when music carried the collective emotion of the nation - love, loss, resistance, dignity, and hope. By arranging these pieces from Ethiopia’s musical heritage instrumentally, Wesenyeleh Mebreku aimed to preserve their essence while protecting them from being confined to a single era or performance style. In doing so, his preservation of Ethiopia’s musical heritage became a contribution to his country’s musical legacy itself, as Resonance of Time serves as an important musical milestone of this composer’s innovative recordings and musical developments in the prolific era of Ethiopia’s 1980s cassette tape culture. On Resonance of Time, Wesenyeleh made use of the first Casio electronic keyboard - the Casiotone CT-201 - to arrange and perform Ethiopian folk songs in his own unique style. Implementing the soulful, lo-fi character of the keyboard, Wesenyeleh’s interpretations of these works take on a life of their own. Charming analog tones interpret swirling sounds of organ and piano in kignit modality to the beat of a nostalgic rhythm machine while twinkling synthesizer sounds carry the melodies drifting out of time. The recordings reflect a watershed moment in Ethiopian musical history - when traditional melodies started being interpreted on electronic keyboards, and the advent of cassette tape recording allowed for music to be transmitted more accessibly than centuries-old oral traditions. During this time, Ethiopian musical modes were syncretized with new technology and budding musical experimentation, and Wesenyeleh’s interpretations on Resonance of Time are a landmark recording of this era, following in the tradition of reflecting upon and re-interpreting historical Ethiopian music for a new generation. Featured on the release are timeless Amharic folk songs and lullabies, Tigrinya love songs, Gurage and Oromifa popular songs, and even works closely associated with performers from Ethiopia’s 1970s popular music era such as “Tiz Alegne Yetintu” (ትዝ አለኝ የጥንቱ) which was famously performed by Tilahun Gessesse. Each piece, thoughtfully chosen by Wesenyeleh, is beautifully transformed into instrumental music of his own style - allowing these worlds of song to echo into the future while they are synthesized with the electronic innovations of the 1980s and Wesenyeleh’s own musical history. Wesenyeleh says this about his musical approach - ”Instrumental music, for me, is a space of reflection. Without words, the listener is invited to remember, imagine, and feel freely. In Resonance of Time, I hear my own musical philosophy: respect for Ethiopian kignit, careful dialogue with Western harmony, and a deep trust in melody as a storyteller.” Each piece performed on Resonance of Time speaks to a time when Ethiopian music was shaped by oral transmission through live performance and communal listening. In today’s fast-moving musical environment, revisiting these works is an act of cultural responsibility. These works remind us that melody once traveled slowly, settling deeply in the listener’s heart. The instrumental format allows these works to cross linguistic and generational boundaries, making them accessible to audiences who may not know the original lyrics but can still feel their spirit. Resonance of Time also reflects a broader historical dialogue: the meeting of tradition and adaptation. Ethiopian music has always evolved while holding onto its core identity. These arrangements affirm that evolution does not mean abandonment. Instead, it can be a form of safeguarding - ensuring that the musical wisdom of the past continues to resonate in the present and inspire the future. In this sense, the album is both personal and collective. It carries Wesenyeleh Mebreku’s own musical fingerprint, shaped by decades of practice, but it ultimately belongs to a wider cultural continuum. It is the artist’s contribution to keeping time audible so that memory, history, and sound may continue to speak to one another.

Deeply resonant spiritual music transmitted via piano, organ, and harmonium by beloved composer and Ethiopian Orthodox nun Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru.

Church of Kidane Mehret collects all the musical work from Emahoy’s 1972 private press album of the same name, alongside two additional unreleased piano recordings, exploring Emahoy’s take on “Ethiopian Church Music.”

Recording herself in churches throughout Jerusalem, Emahoy engages directly with the Ethiopian Orthodox musical liturgy. For the first time, we hear Emahoy on harmonium and massive, droning pipe organ, alongside some of her most moving piano work.

“Ave Maria” is one of our favorite pieces Emahoy ever recorded, her chiming piano reverberating against ancient stone walls. Her familiar melodic lines take on new resonance when played through the harmonium on “Spring Ode - Meskerem.” Two towering organ performances comprise the B Side, combining Emahoy’s classical European training with her lifelong study of Ethiopian religious music.

Nowhere is Emahoy’s unique combination of influences more apparent than on “Essay on Mahlet,” a meditative slow burner in which Emahoy interprets the free verse of the Orthodox liturgy note for note on the piano. This revelatory piece, alongside the dramatic piano composition “The Storm,” comes from another self-released album, 1963’s Der Sang Des Meeres. Only 50 copies were ever produced (and no cover). One of the only known copies was saved from the trash and shared with Mississippi by a fellow nun at Emahoy’s monastery when we visited for Emahoy’s funeral in March of 2023.

We are proud to work with the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Foundation to bring you these rare spiritual recordings in what would have been the artist’s 102nd year.

Available in black and clear vinyl editions. Old-school tip-on jacket with metallic silver foil stamping along with a 12-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes from scholar and pianist Thomas Feng.

The first vocal album by beloved Ethiopian nun, composer, and pianist Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - profound and deeply moving home cassette recordings made amidst political upheaval and turmoil. These are songs of wisdom, loss, mourning, and exile, sung directly into a boombox and accompanied by Emahoy’s unmistakable piano. Though written and recorded while still living at her family’s home in Addis Ababa, Emahoy sings of the heartache of leaving her beloved Ethiopia, a reflection on the 1974 revolution and ensuing Red Terror in her homeland, and a presentiment of her future exile in Jerusalem. In the 21st century, Emahoy has become known worldwide for her utterly unique melodic and rhythmic style. Commonly misinterpreted as “jazzy” or “honky tonk,” Emahoy’s music actually comes from a deep engagement with the Western classical tradition, mixed with her background in Ethiopian traditional and Orthodox music. These songs, recorded between 1977-1985, are different from anything previously released by the artist. Rich with the sound of birds outside the window, the creak of the piano bench, the thump of Emahoy’s finger on the record button, they create a sense of place, of being near the artist while she records. Emahoy’s lyrics, sung in Amharic, are poetic and heavy with the weight of exile. “When I looked out / past the clouds / I couldn’t see my country’s sky / Have I really gone so far?” she asks in “Is It Sunny or Cloudy in the Land You Live?” Her vocals are delicate and heartfelt, tracing the melodic contours of her piano on songs like “Where Is the Highway of Thought?” “Tenkou! Why Feel Sorry?,” a career highlight that closes out her self-titled Mississippi album (MRP-099), is revisited here with vocals. Originally composed for her niece, Tenkou, the lyrics clarify the song title we’ve wondered about for so many years. “Don’t cry / Childhood won’t come back / Let it go with love.” Emahoy dreamt of releasing this music to a larger audience before her passing in March of 2023. We are proud to release this music, in collaboration with her family, now, in what would have been her 100th year. LP comes with a 16-page booklet full-color booklet. Gold cover first edition, pressed in both black and gold vinyl editions.

From beloved composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, a revelatory new album of piano pieces, unreleased or virtually inaccessible until now!

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – an Ethiopian nun whose recordings have funded orphanages back home since the early ’60s. Her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear.

This is the first archival release of the great composer’s recordings since the Éthiopiques series reintroduced her music to the world in 2006. Drawn from original master tapes and a nearly impossible-to-find vinyl release, Jerusalem unveils profound new facets of Emahoy Gebru’s performance and compositions.

The record picks up where the last two Mississippi releases left off, with tracks from her 1972 album Hymn of Jerusalem, of which only a handful of copies are known to exist. These include “Home of Beethoven,” “Aurora,” and a true masterpiece that stands amongst her greatest compositions, the moving “Jerusalem.” “Quand La Mer Furieuse” is the first release featuring Emahoy’s singing voice, forshadowing a vocal album planned for fall 2023. The B-Side brings us the artist’s home recordings - tracks like “Farewell Eve,” “Woigaye Don’t Cry Anymore,” and “Famine Disaster 1974” mark a bridge from liturgical work to dark and intense classical material, a new mode.

This album is released in celebration of Emahoy Gebru’s 99th birthday on December 12, 2022. Mississippi is honored to work with the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Publisher to continue to introduce this visionary composer to the world.

Newly remastered recordings pressed on 160gm black vinyl, heavy jacket with reproduction of 1972 artwork, song notes by the artist. 

 

The third in Strut’s Inspiration Information studio collaboration series brings together an intriguing pairing between one of Africa’s great bandleaders, Mulatu Astatke, with the next level musicianship of The Heliocentrics collective from the mighty roster of Stones Throw / Now Again.

Known primarily through the successful ‘Ethiopiques’ album series and the film soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Broken Flowers’, Mulatu Astatke is one of Ethiopia’s foremost musical ambassadors. Informed by spells living and studying in the UK and the USA, his self-styled Ethio-jazz sound flourished during the “Swinging Addis” era of the late ‘60s as he successfully fused Western jazz and funk with traditional Ethiopian folk melodies, five tone scale arrangements and elements from music of the ancient Coptic church.

The Heliocentrics have become known as one of the UK’s foremost free-thinking collectives of musicians, inspired by a wide palette covering Sun Ra, James Brown, David Axelrod and all manner of psych, Afro and Eastern sounds. Now a fixture within the Stones Throw / Now Again roster, they forged their own genre-breaking directions in the astral analogue groove on their 2007 debut album, ‘Out There’.

“ It’s like going back to the feel of the ‘60s, it really feels like that,” explains Mulatu. “There’s a new composition, ‘Cha Cha’, and ‘Dewel’, heavily influenced by an Ethiopian Coptic Church composer called Yard. The band took it and added what they feel. It’s a nice experiment.” 

REPRESSED COMP OF GOLDEN TUNES! After releasing around fifty 45 rpm singles and his first 33 rpm album Amha Eshete set about compiling his best 45s on a series of now legendary albums in 1972.

The World Is but a Place of Survival: Ethiopian Begena Songs documents the spiritual heart of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Amhara tradition. The begena, a ten‑stringed lyre linked by legend to King David, is reserved solely for sacred music. Its rich, buzzing tone – produced by leather strips beneath the strings – is believed to protect against evil and bring players closer to God. Symbolising elements of the faith, the instrument is played during times of prayer and reflection, especially Lent. Long associated with scholars and nobles, the begena endured even the Derg regime’s ban.

Recorded in Addis Ababa by Stéphanie Weisser (2002–2005) and mastered by Renaud Millet‑Lacombe, this release comes via Death Is Not The End under licence from VDE‑Gallo, Switzerland.

Following the 2016 release of "Ethiopian hit parade vol.1", Francis Falceto, founder of the Ethiopian series and Heavenly Sweetness continue their work of reissuing the Ethiopian hit parade series on vinyl. These are very rare vinyls, published at the time in only 300 or 400 copies. After releasing about fifty singles and his first LP (Ethiopian Modern Instrumental Hits AELP 10), the late Amha Eshèté, who passed away this year, undertook in 1972 to collect his best productions released on singles in a series of albums that have become mythical (and unobtainable in original). The first four volumes of Ethiopian Hit Parade were released in September and October 1972, and the fifth in January 1973. The one you have in your hands is volume 2. 1. GETACHEW KASSA "Tezeta (slow+fast)" This double version of "Tezeta", by its success and the controversy it fuelled between outraged conservatives and the young pop guard, stands as a symbol of pre-revolutionary Ethiopia - light music trend. Its fast part is very representative of the upheaval in Ethiopian society: Gétatchèw Kassa gives a version that is totally contrary to tradition, but so much in the tone adopted by the young Ethiopian anti-conformists of 1972. This "Tezeta" was, moreover, Ethiopia's biggest recording success - around 5,000 copies, whereas the big hits had a ceiling of 2 or 3,000 copies, and the small hits a few hundred. 2.MULATU ASTATKE "Munayé” In the Ethiopian musical landscape, Mulatu Astatqé is a personality totally apart, atypical, unique in his genre. Musician, arranger, composer, innovator, mover and shaker, his true uniqueness certainly lies in his action for instrumental music, which is not an Ethiopian tradition. This title "Munayé" is in fact the title that opens the album "Ethiopian modern instrumental hits". He is joined on piano by Girma Bèyènè, Testa Maryam Kidané on tenor sax and Andrew Wilson on guitar, Ivo on bass, Tesfayé "hodo" Mékonnen and Girma Zémaryam on drums, and the strings are undoubtedly those of the Police String Orchestra. 3. TESHOME METEKU "Yezemed yebaed" & "Mote adeladayou" Tèshomè Meteku was something of a meteor. Brother of saxophonist Téwodros Meteku, he recorded only four songs, four exceptional jewels, before leaving for Sweden to continue his studies. He is surely one of the voices that best matched Mulatu Astatqé's arrangements. 4. ABAYNEH DEDJENE "Balendjèrié 5 & 7. ALEMAYEHU ESHETE "Alteleyeshigneme" & "Temhert bété" Along with Mahmoud and Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Alèmayèhu Eshèté is one of the most prolific singers in the Ethiopian discography. A leading vocalist with the Police Orchestra since 1960, he was one of the first artists to leave the institution to join the young guard of independent orchestras, such as the Soul Ekos, or the Alem-Girma band which he founded with the pianist and arranger Girma Bèyènè. Often referred to as James Brown or the Ethiopian Elvis for his looks and stage presence, as well as for his music, Alèmayèhu has long symbolised modernist Ethiopia, enamoured of Rhythm and Blues and Soul music, without abandoning the roots that are so unique to the thousand-year-old Abyssinian nation. 6. MENELIK WOSSENACHEW "Belew bedubaye » 9. ESSATU TESSEMMA and SEYFU YOHANNES "Fikir bekumena » Like Tlahoun Gèssèssè and Abaynèh Dèdjèné, Essatu Tessemma was also a singer attached to the Imperial Body Guard Band, until the 1974 revolution. A native of Soddo Wélayta, he died in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, Sèyfou Yohannes has left us very few traces (only 6 tracks recorded on vinyl). Born in 1946, he died in the early 1970s before reaching his thirties. A pioneer among independent singers, Sèyfou Yohannes sang in particular with The Soul Ekos, a model of the non-institutional band, very open to Afro-American music and produced by Amha Eshèté. 10. MULUKEN MELESSE "Enbayén terègiw" A precocious phenomenon, Muluqèn Mèlèssè was 13 years old when he began his singing career in 1966. Like many vocalists of his time, he started out in the various police bands before singing with the first non-institutional groups or those formed by club owners. This singer will be the subject of the next volume (31) in the Ethiopian series.

One of the most stunning and unique albums of the Ethiopian golden age of jazz, never re-issued in full until now! This album was the only LP released by the mysterious Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret, two young women backed by one of the hardest-charging jazz and funk bands of the Ethiopian scene. The record was a huge hit in Ethiopia in 1976, but the artists never released another album. We managed to track them down and bring this amazing record back to the world. Dizzying close harmonies and indestructible grooves on this lost classic from Ethiopia's Golden Age. Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret, two young women raised in the bustling cosmopolitan milieu of late-empire Addis Ababa, released one single and a full-length LP in 1976 before disappearing from the music business entirely. Originally released on Kaifa, the label responsible for some of the heaviest and funkiest Ethiopian records of all time, Beauties was a hit, selling out in a few days. But it came out at the beginning of two decades of darkness and oppression in Ethiopia, and this is the first full reissue of this overlooked classic. Beauties is at once totally unique and an amalgamation of all that came before it during Ethiopia's explosive two decades of creativity in the 60s and 70s. Fans of Ethio-jazz will hear Mulatu in the dark, minor-key piano runs, turning in on themselves on songs like "Amlak Abet Abet" and "Metche Neow." Interlocking percussion and rock steady basslines are a signature of the Army Band, which also backed greats like Tlahoun Gesesse and Mahmoud Ahmed. Arranger Teshome Sisay is also an incredible flutist, playing with both sensitivity and swagger on tracks like the majestic "Ayinouma." But the vocals are the most stunning part. Aselefech and Getenesh met at the legendary Hager Fikir Theatre in Addis, where centuries-old Ethiopian culture combined with the modern music of the capital's elite. Trained in traditional music, their dual vocals lead in extremely close harmony, intertwined and infinitely creative in their phrasing. By the time this record was released, the Derg Regime was imposing strict crackdowns on music and artistic expression. Targeted as allies of the deposed Emperor Haille Selassie, the artists (and most musicians) had to keep a low profile. This is one of the last great releases of the Ethiopian Golden Era. Though she was never able to release a second record, Aselefech Ashine is proud of her work. From her home in Addis she says: "I have full confidence that this album will be popular and a hit when it is released again now!" We are proud to release this album in collaboration with Domino Sound in New Orleans and through direct license from the artists. Old-school "tip-on" jacket faithfully recreates the amazing original artwork, lyric translations, photos, and an interview with Ashine accompany.

Strut presents Mulatu Plays Mulatu, the first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke.

Featuring masterful new arrangements of some of his classic compositions, Mulatu Plays Mulatu finds Mulatu revisiting the sounds that helped to change the face of Ethiopian music during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The album was recorded between London and Addis Ababa, working with his long-standing UK band, a tight, intuitive ensemble honed through years of live performance, alongside cultural musicians resident at his Jazz Village club in Addis.

Mulatu Plays Mulatu realises Mulatu’s long-term vision of Ethio-jazz, intricately balancing Western jazz arrangements with the rich sounds of traditional Ethiopian instruments including the krar, masenqo, washint, kebero and begena. Throughout the album, he reshapes familiar material with rich textures, expanded improvisations and a deepened rhythmic complexity, creating a body of work that feels as vital and contemporary as it does steeped in tradition. Familiar compositions like ‘Yekermo Sew’, ‘Netsanet’ and the celebratory ‘Kulun’ are reinvented here as elegant big band performances.

“Ethio-jazz brings us together and makes us one,” explains Mulatu. “This album is the culmination of my work bringing this music to the world and pays respect to our unsung heroes, the original musical scientists in Ethiopia who gave us our cultural music.”

Bridging continents and generations throughout his 50-year career, Astatke now offers us an invitation to hear his music again, with a completely fresh perspective. Ethio-jazz, like its creator, is always in motion.

Mulatu Plays Mulatu was produced by Dexter Story and features contemporary artists LA-based artists Carlos Niño and Kibrom Birhane. The album was recorded and mixed by Isabel Gracefield at RAK Studios in London and by Dexter Story in Addis. The inspired album artwork was created by acclaimed Oslo-based Ethiopian artist, Wendimagegn Belete with photography by Alexis Maryon.

Éthiopiques is back! Armenian-born composer, arranger and instructor Nerses Nalbandian was the key pioneer of modern Ethiopian music. He laid the foundations for « Swinging Addis » and for ethio-jazz. This volume revives Nalbandian’s forgotten legacy, recorded live by the Either/Orchestra & Ethiopian Guests. “Ethiopian jazzmen are the best musicians that we have seen so far in Africa. They really are promising handlers of jazz instruments.” Wilbur De Paris (1959, after a concert in Addis Ababa) አዲስ፡ዘመን። Addis zèmèn A new era. The time is the mid-1950s and early 1960s, just before "Swinging Addis" bloomed – or rather boomed – onto the scene. Brass instruments are still dominant, but the advent of the electric guitar, and the very first electronic organs, are just around the corner. Rock’n'Roll, R’n’B, Soul and the Twist have not yet barged their way in. Addis Ababa is steeped in the big band atmosphere of the post-war era, with Glenn Miller's In the Mood as its world-wide theme song, neck and neck with the Latin craze that was in vogue at the same period. Life has become enjoyable once again, with the return of peace after the terrible Italian Fascist invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1941). The redeployment of modern music is part and parcel of the postwar reconstruction. Addis zèmèn – a new era – is the watchword of the postwar period, just as it was all across war-torn Europe. The generation who were the young parents of baby boomers were the first to enjoy this musical renaissance, before the baby boomers themselves took over and forever super-charged the soundtrack of the final days of imperial reign. Music is Ethiopia's most popular art form, and very often serves as the best barometer for the upsurge of energy that is critical for reconstruction. Whether it be jazz in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the zazous who revolutionised both jazz and French chanson after the Libération, be it Madrid's post-Franco Movida, or Dada, the Surrealists and les années folles that followed World War I, the periods just after mourning and hardship always give rise to brighter and more tuneful tomorrows. Addis Ababa, as the country's capital, and the epicentre of change, was no exception to this vital rule. Two generations of Nalbandian musicians Nersès Nalbandian belonged to a family of Armenian exiles, who had moved to Ethiopia in the mid-1920s. The uncle Kevork arrived along with the fabled "Arba Lidjotch", the "40 Kids", young Armenian orphans and musicians that the Ras Tafari had recruited when he visited Jerusalem in 1924, intending to turn their brass band into the official imperial band. If Kevork Nalbandian was the one who first opened the way of modernism, pushing innovation so far as to invent musical theatre, it was his nephew Nersès who would go on to become, from the 1940s and until his death in 1977, a pivotal figure of modern Ethiopian music and of the heights it. Going all the way back to the 1950s. Nothing less. And it is Nersès who is largely to thank for the brassy colours that so greatly contributed to the international renown of Ethiopian groove. While the younger generations today venture timidly into the genealogy of their country's modern music, often losing their way amidst a distinctly xenophobic historiographical complacency, many survivors of the imperial period are still around to bear witness and pay tribute to the essential role that "Moussié Nersès" played in the rise of Abyssinia's musical modernity. Given the year of his birth (15 March 1915), no one knows for sure if Nersès Nalbandian was born in Aintab, today Gaziantep (Turkiye/former Ottoman Empire) or on the other side of the border in Alep, Syria... What is certain is that his family, like the entire Armenian community, was amongst the victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Alep, the place of safety – today in ruins. Before Nersès then, there was uncle Kevork (1887-1963). For a quarter of a century, he was a whirlwind of activity in music teaching and theatrical innovation. Guèbrè Mariam le Gondaré (የጎንደሬ ገብረ ማርያም አጥቶ ማግኘት, 1926 EC=1934) is his most famous creation. This play included "ten Ethiopian songs" — a totally innovative approach. According to his autobiographical notes, preserved by the Nalbandian family, Kevork indicates that he composed some 50 such pieces over the course of his career. This shows just how much he understood, very early on, the critical importance of song as Ethiopia's crowning artistic form. Indeed, for Ethiopian listeners, the most important thing is the lyrics, with all their multifarious mischief, far more than a strong melody, sophisticated arrangements or even an exceptional voice. (This is also why Ethiopians by and large, and beginning with the artists and producers themselves, believed for a long time — and wrongly — that their music could not possibly be exported, and could never win over audiences abroad, who did not speak the country's languages). Last but not least, one of Kevork's major contributions remains composing Ethiopia's first national anthem – with lyrics by Yoftahé Negussié. Nersès Nalbandian moved to Ethiopia at the end of the 1930s, at the behest of his ground-breaking uncle. Proficient in many instruments (pretty much everything but the drums), conductor, choir director, composer, arranger, adapter, creator, piano tuner, purveyor of rented pianos,... he was above all an energetic and influential teacher. From 1946 onwards, thanks to Kevork's connexion, Nersès was appointed musical director of the Addis Ababa Municipality Band. In just a few years, Nersès transformed it into the first truly modern ensemble, thanks to the quality of his teaching, his choice of repertoire, and the sophistication of his arrangements. It was this group that would go on to become the orchestra of the Haile Selassie Theatre shortly after its inauguration in 1955, which was a major celebration of the Emperor's jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of his on-again-off-again reign. At some point or other in his long career, Nersès Nalbandian had a hand in the creation of just about every institutional band (Municipality Band, Police Orchestra, Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, Yared Music School…), but it was with the Haile Selassie Theatre – today the National Theatre – that his abilities were most on display, up until his death in 1977. To this must be added the development of choral singing in Ethiopia, hitherto unknown, and a sort of secret garden dedicated to the memory of Armenian sacred music, and brought together in two thick, unpublished volumes. Shortly before his death (November 13, 1977), he was appointed to lead the impressive Ethiopian delegation at Festac in Lagos, Nigeria (January-February 1977). His status as a stateless foreigner regularly excluded him from the most senior positions, in spite of the respect he commanded (and commands to this day) from the musicians of his era. Naturally gifted and largely self-taught, Nerses was tirelessly curious about new musical developments, drawing inspiration from the very first imported records, and especially from listening intensely to the musical programmes broadcast over short-wave radio – BBC First. A prolific composer and arranger, he was constantly mindful of formalising and integrating Ethiopian parameters (specific “musical modes”, pentatonic scale, and the dominance of ternary rhythms) into his “modernisation” of the musical culture, rather than trying to over-westernise it. It even seems very probable that Moussié Nerses made a decisive contribution to the development of tighter music-teaching methods, in order to revitalise musical education during this period of prodigious cultural ferment. Flying in the face of all the historiographical and musicological evidence, it is taken as sacrosanct dogma that the four musical modes or chords officially recognised today, the qǝñǝt or qiñit (ቅኝት), are every bit as millennial as Ethiopia itself. It would appear however that some streamlining of these chords actually took place in around 1960. It was only from this time onward that music teaching was structured around these four fundamental musical modes and chords: Ambassel, Bati, Tezeta and Antchi Hoyé. A historical and musical “details” that is, apparently, difficult to swallow, especially if that should honour a foreigner. Modern Ethiopian music has Nersès to thank for many of its standards and, to this day, it is not unusual for the National Radio to broadcast thunderous oldies that bear unmistakable traces of his outrageously groovy touch. Honor and disgrace (A tale of three anthems) The life of an immigrant, not to mention a stateless person, in Ethiopia, is anything but a bed of roses. Beyond the remarkable successes, the immigrant – the fèrendj — has to contend with many humiliations, given how insular, and even passionately xenophobic, Ethiopia's national mindset is. Two-faced finesse, complication elevated to a fine art, the ambiguity of double-entendres, all sorts of petty compromises, bank-shots worthy of karambola billiards, the tyranny of appearances, elegant evasiveness, jovial jesuitry, forced modesty..., Ethiopian Byzantinism can certainly give rise to some strange tragicomedies. The Nalbandians, the uncle and the nephew, are associated with three anthems: two national and one continental – Africa Africa, the official anthem of the Organisation of African Unity. The first Ethiopian national anthem was composed by Kevork Nalbandian, at the request of the Ras Tafari as early as 1925. After the young regent had had the quality of the composition affirmed by the Royal College of Music in London, this anthem “was played for the first time at the coronation of H.M. the King Taffari, at the Sellassié Church (Church of the Trinity), on October 7, 1928”. From then on it accompanied the country's official ceremonies for half a century, until the revolution that overthrew Haile Selassie in 1974. When the revolution came, the new "Red Negus" soon ordered up a new anthem, to mark the change of era and of regime. According to the historic saxophonist and clarinettist Mèrawi Setot, sixty-some proposals were submitted as sealed bids. Fatalitas fatalitatis! It was Nersès Nalbandian, in partnership with Tsegaye Guèbrè-Medhen for the lyrics, who was selected by the jury. This met a flat refusal by the dictator Menguistu Haylè-Maryam, who was resolutely hostile to the idea of patriotic lyricism depending once again upon a foreigner and who, to make matters worse, was yet another Nalbandian… The runner-up that was finally selected proved to be literally unplayable, and its composer, who was also the director of the national school of music (the Yaréd School), had the cheek to ask Nerses Nalbandian to kindly straighten out his utterly unplayable score. Although generally not a stickler about being credited, Nerses required that this request be put in writing before he carried it out. Still more shameful, if possible, was the tragicomedy that was played out in the wings during the opening ceremony of the OAU, the Organisation of African Unity. A continental anthem had been commissioned from Nerses Nalbandian. Africa Africa. Lyrics by Ayaléw Desta. For the inaugural ceremony (May 25, 1963), the Ethiopian authorities did not feel that they could decently put a white conductor up on stage, displaying him in front of an audience of newly decolonised African dignitaries. Nerses was relegated to the wings, conducting the orchestra in profile within sight only of the visible conductor, who was surely hard put to reflect the charisma of the rightful conductor. A missed opportunity for the new Africa. How many other humiliations?... The account of Nerses's son Vartkes Nalbandian is required reading to fully measure the pain of exile in a beloved and lovingly adopted country. Highway robbery The hyperactive Nerses Nalbandian only recorded three songs on vinyl: Tebèb nèw tèqami, Adèrètch Arada and Qèlèméwa (Philips Ethiopia PH 088181 [1967] and PH 108 [1971]). This is surely a question of generation — and of temperament. The musician was already well into his fifties when the brief heyday of Ethiopian vinyl (1969-1977) got underway, entirely managed by a cohort of upstart 25-year-old boomers. The only way to listen to Nalbandian today is to rely on a few nostalgic radio programmes, or to get hold of forgotten reel-to-reel tapes and to patiently restore them. There is not even a trade in bootleg cassettes amongst Ethiopian musical history fanatics, nor are there any sound archives at the National Theatre. Unlike all the other great Ethiopian artists (who kept no documentary records of their careers), Nerses Nalbandian did leave behind extraordinary family archives, which allow us to decipher not only the whole of his personal journey, but also the triumphant march of Swinging Addis towards its peak, as immortalized in the definitive vinyls. A gold mine of first-hand information on the history of Ethiopian music. Scores, concert programmes, official and private correspondence, detailed proposals, plans and budgets, etc., along with reasoned objections, or even firm refusals... An entire book should be devoted to the life's work of this veritable founding father who championed the causes of music in Ethiopia. It must be underscored that, from 1955 until his death, Nerses Nalbandian was truly the key figure of modern Ethiopian music. Nothing less. We must see beyond the shortcuts and the glossing-over borne of a lazy journalism that insists on seeing in the Ethio-Jazz of Mulatu Astatke [Astatqé] the alpha and the omega of “Swinging Addis”. With the willing assent of its creator, this fine innovation has been turned into a hagiographic and hegemonic category intended to gather under its wing not only the disputed masterpieces of its self-proclaimed godfather, but all manner of Ethiopian pop music, from Tlahoun Gèssèssè to Mahmoud Ahmed by way of Alèmayèhu Eshèté or Gétatchèw Mèkurya... Let us remember that Mulatu only returned to Ethiopia at the very end of the 1960s, after more than ten years of studious exile, whereas the so-called "Swinging Addis" had actually begun in around 1960 – or even in 1955. Mulatu was 17 years old in 1960! – a student in the United Kingdom and then in the USA between 1958 and 1969… This is not to deny his role, but simply to assign him a place that is more consistent with historical reality, amidst of genuine innovation, alleged plagiarism, and oversized influence, which still casts a long shadow today. The media's appetite for forgotten old talents, saved by the bell, tends too often to discount the most stubborn of facts. Dear music lovers, let's make one last try to take a fair view of the history of modern Ethiopian music, and of the ways it has been unfairly mislabelled! Even today, it still seems just as unthinkable, in this extravagantly chauvinistic country, to simply recognise in Nerses Nalbandian the essential father figure of modern Ethiopian music. Of course there was no shortage of illustrious arrangers for the institutional bands of the 1960s (such as Haylou Wolde-Mariam, Girma Hadgu, Sahle Degago or Lemma Demissew…). But none of them, much youngers, possessed Nerses's velvet-gloved charisma, his demanding and impeccable standards, his integrity as an Ethiopianised fèrendj, his ferocious appetite for hard work, or his strictly musical authority, free from the treacherous hierarchies of the institutional bands (Imperial Bodyguard, Police, Army). For this chronic workaholic, music teaching, content programming, rigorous studies, and the creation of a modern Conservatory, were all links in the same chain of duties that were essential to the development of music in Ethiopia. It must be strongly underscored that the great historical pioneer of this music is an Armenien emigrant, deeply Ethiopianised, Nerses Nalbandian, Nalbandian the Ethiopian. Russ Gershon and Either/Orchestra And then came Russ Gershon. With his Either/Orchestra. A musician like Russ Gershon (born in 1959), saxophonist, composer, arranger, band leader, producer in charge of the Accurate Records label, who has played with Cab Calloway, the Four Tops, Morphine, John Medeski, Matt Wilson, Josh Roseman, Miguel Zenon, Bobby Ward and Willie “Loco” Alexander (to name only a few) can't help but make a strong impression. Especially when one learns that he wrote a Harvard University thesis on Manet's Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, produced free-flowing radiophonic orgies (52 hours of Ornette Coleman, Charlie Mingus, etc.), and counts Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Sun Ra and Gil Evans among his favorite musicians. The first fèrendj maestro (after Charles Sutton of Orchestra Ethiopia) to fall under the spell of Abyssinian chords, Russ Gershon has been conducting his own big band since 1985. Captivated in 1994 by the nascent Ethiopian groove that was emerging in the West, he has been engaged ever since in exploring and deepening this discovery, which paired so naturally with his encyclopedic jazzicism, thus opening the way for a surprising number of groups with undeniably Ethio-friendly inclinations, on every continent. Two concert tours in Ethiopia (2004 and 2011) and a few albums later, these Nalbandian recordings are at long last being released. éthiopiques 20 (Either/Orchestra & Guests - Live in Addis, 2005) already spoke volumes about E/O. What better now than to turn straight to Russ Gershon's own impressions and analysis (p. xx + pdf complet sur le CD). No one has acquired a deeper musical and historical grasp of Nerses Nalbandian's innumerable musical scores, nor developed an ongoing relationship with the Nalbandian family, which possesses a veritable treasure of information. The Bostonian's curiosity, precision and scrupulous commentary constitute an indispensable exploration of the musical genesis of "Swinging Addis". This recording represents the vital modernist link that was heretofore missing in these éthiopiques. Francis Falceto English translation by Karen Lou Albrecht

The World Is but a Place of Survival: Ethiopian Begena Songs documents the spiritual heart of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Amhara tradition. The begena, a ten‑stringed lyre linked by legend to King David, is reserved solely for sacred music. Its rich, buzzing tone – produced by leather strips beneath the strings – is believed to protect against evil and bring players closer to God. Symbolising elements of the faith, the instrument is played during times of prayer and reflection, especially Lent. Long associated with scholars and nobles, the begena endured even the Derg regime’s ban.

Recorded in Addis Ababa by Stéphanie Weisser (2002–2005) and mastered by Renaud Millet‑Lacombe, this release comes via Death Is Not The End under licence from VDE‑Gallo, Switzerland.

Strut present the first official reissue of a landmark album in the field of African music, Mulatu Astatke’s ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ from 1972. Recorded in New York, the album arrived at a time when Astatke had begun to master the delicate fusion of styles needed to create Ethio jazz. “I left the UK for America and studied at Berklee College in Boston. I learnt the technical aspects of jazz and gained a beautiful understanding of many different types of music. That’s where I got my tools. Berklee really shook me up.” Journeying regularly to the Big Apple to play and watch live shows at the Cheetah, the Palladium and the Village Gate, Astatke met producer Gil Snapper on the circuit. “Gil was a nice and very interesting guy. He produced music and worked with all kinds of musicians.” The meeting would lead to a series of albums on Snapper’s Worthy label. The first, ‘Afro Latin Soul’, documented Astatke’s new-found directions. “Mulatu has created a new sound,” enthused Snapper on the album jacket. “He has taken the ancient five-tone scales of Asia and Africa and woven them into something unique and exciting; a mixture of three cultures, Ethiopian, Puerto Rican and American.” A second volume of ‘Afro Latin Soul’ followed before Astatke began to hone his sound further, infusing funk and Azmari “chik-chikka” rhythms into the mix. Returning to a downtown Manhattan studio with Snapper and working with some of the city’s top young jazz and latin session players, ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ began to take shape. “We rehearsed for 3-4 weeks,” remembers Astatke. “it took them a while to get the right feeling in the music.” The resultant album represented the first fully formed document of Astatke’s trademark Ethio jazz sound. It features ‘Kulunmanqueleshi’, ‘Dewel’, and ‘Kasalefku-Hulu’, tracks that Mulatu would return to regularly on singles and in live shows, the Ethio-Latin workout ‘Chifara’ and the self-titled groover ‘Mulatu’ (“I wanted to make a track for…. myself!”).

Swan Song

The vinyl LP at the heart of this éthiopiques 31 [tracks 2 to 11] was one of the very last vinyl records ever released in Ethiopia. But above all it represents, we felt, the absolute masterpiece of the Ethiopian Groove – the Swan Song of Swinging Addis. The album leaves a clear idea for posterity of the level of sophistication and mastery that modern Ethiopian music had achieved, before being crushed under the Stalino-military heel of the Derg – as the bloody revolution that was unfolding came to be called.

Ethiopia 1976.

The Revolution that broke out in February 1974 rolled on in a ruthless march. The whole of Ethiopian society was utterly stunned. The bouquets of flowers handed joyfully to the first tanks of the coup d'état were to wilt very rapidly. From September 1976 to February 1978, 18 months of Red Terror (the name given by the junta itself) spilled blood throughout the country. This fratricidal conflict took its heaviest toll among students and youth. The shift from feudalism to a cruel and primitive Stalinism left the country's citizens deeply traumatised, and snuffed out any pretence of activism, whatever the sector of society. This ice age was to last for seventeen long years.

ሙሉቀን፡መለሰ Mulukèn Mellèssè Muluqän Mälläsä

It was three tracks by Muluken that served as the opener for éthiopiques-1 more than 25 years ago. Seven more tracks appeared on éthiopiques-3 and 13, all accompanied by The Equators, which was soon to become the Dahlak Band.

The first track, Hédètch alu, also the very first piece that Muluken ever recorded, left audiences both unsettled and amazed. Reflecting the singer's extremely young age (he was just 17 at the time), this angelic voice mystified many, who thought they were in fact listening to a feminine voice. He was not yet 22 when he released his last vinyl record in 1976 with Kaifa Records (KF 39LP), one of the very last to be issued in Ethiopia, before the cassette tape became the dominant medium for music distribution – and before the new revolutionary regime put a stop to all independent musical life, via an unspeakable barrage of prohibitions and other persecutions.

Mulu qèn, literally, “A well filled day”. This tender maternal intention wasn't enough to ward off the cruelty of fate. His mother's premature death drove Muluken to leave his native Godjam, in northeast Ethiopia, to live with an uncle in Addis Ababa. Born Muluken Tamer, he took his uncle's last name – Mèllèssè.

The spelling Muluken appeared in his administrative records. Transcription of Amharic to the Latin alphabet, both in Ethiopia and for scholars, gives rise to controversies and quibbles that can never be neatly settled. French allows for a closer approximation of the original pronunciation, thanks to its battery of accent marks, confusing as they may be to anglophones.

Between rather accommodating administrative record-keepers and the various versions that pop up in interviews given by the artist, Muluken's year of birth oscillates between 1953 and 1955…

1954? One thing is certain: the artist's talent made itself known very early indeed, because he got his start in 1966-67, at the age of 13 or 14. Photos from the period attest to his extreme youth. It's a strange sort of initiation for a very young teenager to become a sensation in the heart of Addis's nightlife at the time, Woubé Bèrèha – the Wilds of Woubé. And what's more, in the club of the Queen of the Night, the Godjamé Assègèdètch Alamrèw herself, the very same that was portrayed by Sebhat Guèbrè-Egziabhér in his novel-memoir Les Nuits d’Addis Abeba2… The legendary female club owner who is remembered to this day by the capital's ageing boomers.

Muluken first tried his hand at the drums, before he grabbed the microphone. He emigrated briefly to the Zula Club, across the street from the old Addis Post Office, one of the ground-breaking bars of the burgeoning musical scene, before joining the Second Police Band in 1968, for around three years. He spent a few months with the short-lived Blue Nile Band founded by saxophonist Besrat Tammènè. As the musical scene grew increasingly successful, and pulled slowly but decisively away from its institutional ties, Muluken released his first 45rpm single in February 1972 (Amha Records AE 440). It was included in two LP Ethiopian Hit Parade compilation albums in September of the same year. All in all, Muluken released eight two-track 45s and the same number of original cassette tapes between February 1972 and 1984, the year that he departed for permanent exile in the USA. After converting to Pentecostalism in 1980, Muluken gradually abandoned all secular musical activity. In 1985, at the end of a concert in Philadelphia, he decided to quit concerts and recording for good. Mèlakè Gèbré, the historic bass player from the Walias band who was playing with him that night, recalls that everything appeared so irredeemably diabolical in Muluken's eyes, that it was to be the end of his contribution to Ethiopian Groove.

The end of the story, the beginning of a legend.

Dahlak Band, forgotten by History

Aside from his personal history and vocal talents, it must be remembered that Muluken Mèllèssè was one of the biggest names in the musical innovations that marked the end of the imperial period. These éthiopiques aim to convince those who are just discovering this hidden gem... As for Ethiopians themselves, they are to this day captivated by this singular and atypical figure in the Abyssinian pop landscape – even though he withdrew from public life some 40 years ago. Incorrigible devotees of poetic twists, of more or less hidden meanings, Ethiopians appreciate above all the care Muluken took in choosing his lyrics and the writers who penned them, such as Feqerte Haylou, Alemtsehay Wodajo and, here, Shewalul Mengistu (1944-1977). Love songs, written by women, a far cry from the conventional drivel that pleases sappy sentimentalists.

Muluken is equally acclaimed for his perfectionism when it came to music, the opposite of the overly casual approach that is all too common. He remained a faithful partner of musicians who came from a lineage that borrowed from several inventive and pioneering bands (Venus, Equators, Dahlak). Amongst them were certain artists who began their musical lives with Nersès Nalbandian at the Haile Sellassie Theatre and who come of age in around 1973 – at just the wrong time, you might say. Among them were the pillars Shimèlis Bèyènè (trumpet), Dawit Yifru (keyboards) and Tilayé Gèbrè (sax & flute). Most notably Tilayé Gèbrè, certainly one of the most important musicians, composers and arrangers of his generation, of the end of the imperial era, and of the early years of the Derg.

It was only in 1981 that a miraculous opportunity arose for Tilayé to escape the Stalinist paradise of the dictator Menguistou Haylè-Maryam. Once again it was Amha Eshèté (1946-2021) who provided a solution. The spirited and courageous producer, who had been in exile in Washington since 1975, succeeded, thanks to his incredible perseverence, in bringing the Walias Band to the USA. It was, in fact an extended Walias Band comprising ten musicians3, six of whom chose to slip away after a few concerts and the recording of an LP (The Best of Walias, WRS 100). Tilayé Gèbrè was one of these. He has been living in the USA ever since. There he joined the then-nascent Ethiopian diaspora, which lived largely unto itself, and was making only very modest headway in the American musical market. It seems unfair that Tilayé Gèbrè and the Dahlak Band were not able to benefit earlier from the public recognition that they do deserve.

A similar draining away of the top-rate talents would lead to the reorganization of the major groups of the “Derg Time”. The remaining artists spread themselves around between Ibex Band (renamed Roha Band), Ethio Star Band and a remodeled Walias Band. That spelled the end of the Dahlak Band.

With this record, produced by the essential Ali Abdella Kaifa a.k.a. Ali Tango, we can appreciate everything that the Derg not only destroyed, but also prevented from flourishing. This gem of Ethiopian-style afrobeat came out in 1976 (and, by way of a parenthesis, before the FESTAC 1977 in Lagos, which was attended by an impressive delegation of Ethiopian musicians — although Fela was already personna non grata in his own country). Despite everything that might distinguish this ethio-groove from Fela’s music – no colonial axe to grind, no question of political confrontation with the authorities, no claims to negritude or Africanism for the Ethiopian musicians, and less extrovertion! –, this LP fits beautifully into the saga of intense and electrified soul of the new “African” groove that Fela and Manu Dibango embodied so well from that point onwards.

In restoring this record to its place in the afrobeat epic, it can be seen that, if nothing else, the timeline bestows a legitimate pedigree and a historical primacy to works that had no international impact when they were originally released.

Warning! Masterpiece!

FRANCAIS

Le Chant du Cygne

L’album 33 tours au cœur de ces éthiopiques [plages 2 à 11] est l’un des derniers vinyles publié en Ethiopie, mais surtout il nous paraît être le chef-d’œuvre absolu de l’Ethiopian Groove – le Chant du Cygne du Swinging Addis. Il laisse à la postérité une idée claire du niveau de sophistication et de maîtrise qu’avait atteint la musique moderne éthiopienne avant d’être écrabouillée sous la botte militaro-stalinienne du Derg – le sigle qui signe la sanglante révolution en cours.

Ethiopie 1976.

La Révolution qui a éclaté en février 1974 avance à marche forcée. La société éthiopienne tout entière est brutalement étourdie. Les gerbes de fleurs offertes avec allégresse aux premiers tankistes du coup d’état ont très vite fané. Entre septembre 1976 et février 1978, 18 mois de Terreur Rouge (ainsi consacrée par la junte elle-même) vont ensanglanter le pays. La jeunesse estudiantine paiera le plus lourd tribut à ces vindictes fratricides. Passer d’une féodalité hors d’âge à un stalinisme primitif et cruel traumatisera pour longtemps chaque citoyen et étouffera toute velléité d’agitation, dans quelque champ de la société que ce soit. Cette glaciation durera dix-sept interminables années.

ሙሉቀን፡መለሰ Mulukèn Mellèssè Muluqän Mälläsä

C’est Muluken qui a ouvert éthiopiques-1 avec trois titres, voilà 25 ans et plus. Sept autres titres sont parus dans éthiopiques 3, 10 et 13, tous accompagnés par The Equators, qui deviendront bientôt le Dahlak Band.

Le titre inaugural, Hédètch alu, également premier morceau gravé par Muluken, a troublé et bluffé le public. Trahissant l’extrême jeunesse de l’interprète (il avait alors 17 ans), cette voix séraphique a mystifié plus d’un auditoire qui pensait avoir affaire à des accents féminins. Il n’a pas 22 ans lorsqu’il publie en 1976 son dernier vinyle sur Kaifa Records (KF 39LP), l’un des tout derniers publiés en Éthiopie avant que la cassette ne devienne le médium roi de la diffusion musicale – et avant que le nouveau régime révolutionnaire ne mette un terme à toute vie musicale indépendante par une innommable batterie d’interdits et autres persécutions.

Mulu qèn, littéralement Une journée [bien] remplie. Ce baptême tout maternel ne suffira pas à conjurer un funeste sort. Le décès précoce de sa mère conduira le jeune Muluken à quitter son Godjam natal, dans le Nord-Ouest éthiopien, pour vivre chez un oncle à Addis Abeba. Né Muluken Tamer, il prendra le nom de cet oncle pour patronyme – Mèllèssè.

C’est la graphie Muluken que retiendra l’état-civil. Les transcriptions de l’amharique en alphabet latin, en Ethiopie comme pour les linguistes, sont l’objet de controverses et autres chicanes jamais unanimement résolues. Le français permet de s’approcher au mieux de la prononciation originale grâce à sa batterie d’accents qui déroutent tant les anglophones.

Entre un état-civil éthiopien accommodant et les variantes parsemant les interviews de l’artiste, l’année de naissance de Muluken oscille entre 1953 et 1955…

1954 ? Ce qui est sûr, c’est que le talent de l’artiste s’est exprimé ultra précocement puisqu’il fait ses débuts en 1966-67, à 13 ou 14 ans. Les photos de l’époque attestent son extrême jeunesse. Singulière initiation pour un très jeune teenager que d’enfiévrer le quartier chaud de la noctambulie addissine d’alors, Woubé Bèrèha – le Maquis de Woubé. Et dans le club de la reine de la nuit qui plus est, la Godjamé Assègèdètch Alamrèw herself, celle-la même qu’à croquée Sebhat Guèbrè-Egziabhér dans son roman-témoignage Les Nuits d’Addis Abeba2… Une tenancière légendaire dont se souviennent encore les vieux boomers de la capitale.

Muluken tâte d’abord de la batterie avant de s’emparer du micro. Il émigrera brièvement au Zula Club, en face de la vieille Poste d’Addis, un de ces bars pionniers de l’effervescence musicale, avant de rejoindre le Second Police Band en 1968, pendant trois ans environ. Quelques mois au sein d’un éphémère Blue Nile Band monté par le saxophoniste Besrat Tammènè et, le succès grandissant, la scène musicale se dégageant lentement mais fermement des institutions, Muluken sort son premier 45 tours en février 1972 (Amha Records AE 440), repris en septembre de la même année dans deux LP compilations Ethiopian Hit Parade. En tout et pour tout, Muluken publiera huit 45 tours deux titres et autant de cassettes originales entre février 1972 et 1984, année de son départ pour un exil définitif aux USA. Converti au pentecôtisme depuis 1980, Muluken abandonne petit à petit toute activité musicale profane. En 1985, à la fin d’un concert donné à Philadelphie, il décide d’arrêter pour de bon concerts et enregistrements. Mèlakè Gèbré, le bassiste historique du Walias band qui l’accompagnait ce soir-là, se souvient que tout semblait si irrémédiablement démoniaque aux yeux de Muluken que c’en était fini désormais de sa contribution au groove éthiopien.

Fin d’une histoire, début d’une légende.

Dahlak Band, oublié de l’Histoire

Histoire personnelle et magie vocale mises à part, il faut retenir que Muluken Mèllèssè fut l’un des derniers très grands noms de l’innovation musicale produite durant la fin de l’époque impériale. Ces éthiopiques se veulent convaincantes pour ceux qui découvrent cette pépite... Quant aux Ethiopiens, ils sont toujours captivés par cette personnalité singulière et atypique du paysage pop abyssin – en dépit de son effacement public depuis quarante ans. Amateurs impénitents de poétique contournée et de sens plus ou moins caché, ils apprécient par-dessus tout le soin mis par Muluken dans le choix de ses textes et de ses paroliers, telles Feqertè Haylou, Alemtsèhay Wèdadjo, et Shèwalul Mengistu ici (1944-1977). Chansons d’amour écrites par des femmes, loin des conventionnelles niaiseries chères aux cœurs d’artichaut.

Muluken est aussi reconnu pour son perfectionnisme en matière de musique, à l’opposé d’une désinvolture trop coutumière. Il demeure le complice fidèle de musiciens issus d’une filiation qui emprunte à plusieurs Bands pionniers autant qu’inventifs (Venus, Equators, Dahlak). On retrouve parmi eux des éléments qui ont commencé leur vie musicale sous la direction de Nersès Nalbandian au Théâtre Haylè-Sellassié Ier et qui arrivent à maturité vers 1973 – au mauvais moment si l’on ose dire. Les piliers Shimèlis Bèyènè (trompette), Dawit Yifru (claviers) et Tilayé Gèbrè (sax & flûte) sont de ceux-là. Tilayé Gèbrè en particulier, certainement l’un des musiciens, compositeur et arrangeurs parmi les plus importants de sa génération et de la toute fin de l’ère impériale, puis du début du Derg.

Il faudra attendre 1981 pour que se présente une miraculeuse occasion d’échapper au paradis stalinien du dictateur Menguistou Haylè-Maryam. Une fois encore, c’est Amha Eshèté (1946-2021) qui trouve la solution. Génial et courageux producteur désormais en exil à Washington depuis 1975, il parvient, au prix d’une persévérance inimaginable, à faire venir le Walias Band aux USA. En fait, un Walias élargi à dix musiciens3 dont six choisiront de prendre la tangente après quelques concerts américains et l’enregistrement d’un LP (The Best of Walias, WRS 100). Tilayé Gèbrè sera de la partie. Il vit toujours aux USA depuis lors. Il y a rejoint une diaspora éthiopienne alors naissante, quasi autarcique et modérément conquérante du marché musical américain. Il nous paraît injuste que Tilayé Gèbrè et le Dahlak Band n’aient pu profiter plus tôt de la reconnaissance publique qui leur revient.

Pareille hémorragie de talents de premier ordre conduira à la refonte des groupes majeurs du “Derg Time”. Les éléments restants vont se répartir entre Ibex Band (renommé Roha Band), Ethio Star Band et un Walias Band remanié. Fin annoncée du Dahlak Band.

Avec ce disque, produit par l’essential Ali Abdella Kaifa dit Ali Tango, on mesure tout ce que le Derg a non seulement détruit, mais aussi empêché de s’épanouir. Ce joyau d’afrobeat à l’éthiopienne est paru en 1976 (entre parenthèses : avant le FESTAC 1977 de Lagos où se rendra une imposante délégation de musiciens éthiopiens — mais Fela était déjà personna non grata dans son pays). Malgré tout ce qui peut le différencier de Fela – aucune revanche coloniale à prendre, pas question d’affrontement politique avec le pouvoir, aucune revendication de négritude ou d’africanité pour les musiciens éthiopiens, et moindre extraversion ! –, ce LP s’inscrit en beauté dans la saga de la soul intense et électrisée du nouveau groove “africain” que Fela et Manu Dibango symbolisent si bien désormais.

En resituant ce disque dans l’épopée de l’afrobeat, on se rend compte que la chronologie rend au moins leurs lettres de noblesse et leur historique primeur à des œuvres sans impact international au moment de leur parution.

Attention ! chef-d’œuvre !