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Life in the World Music bin can be tough. The vague classification, despite being effectively meaningless, does have a tendency to overshadow everything that falls under its jurisdiction. Even overlooking the general absurdity of housing a psychedelic sixties rock record from Brazil next door to field recordings of Indonesian pan-pipers and just down the hall from an ensemble of overdriven West-African Mbiras, the mere words World Music can sometimes cause a shudder. All too often they bring to mind a particularly toothless brand of New Age Ethnofusion. The drone of drum circles and sari-clad Krishnas, while perfectly awesome in and of themselves, can sadly drown out a whole world (literally) of incredible sounds. But we're here to help.
While the Discoverer in me gets admittedly giddy at the thought of Ramalayan monkey chants and microtonal Balinese gamelan, I can't fight my own upbringing. Nothing quite satisfies like good ol' American music. Naturally, then, my ears tend to perk up a bit when I come across an artist like, say, Alemayehu Eshete, Ethiopia's answer to James Brown. This is stuff everyone can agree on. So, whether you're the type to walk a little faster past the storefront selling Yin-Yang incense holders, or you already know a Bhangra from a Bhavageete, stay tuned. We'll be bringing you a series of amazing musician who seamlessly combine the western sounds we know and love, from Benny Goodman to the Beatles, with the native styles of disparate cultures to form music that is at once exotic sounding and absolutely irresistible.
Alemayehu Eshete kicks it off with the sounds of Swinging Addis. It all started in the 1950's when American jazz, R&B, and soul music started to seep into Addis Abeba, Ethiopia's capital city, and the state's institutional bands, The Police Band, The Army Band, The Imperial Bodyguard Band, started replicating these sounds in the city's night clubs. Later on, the arrival of Peace Corp volunteers and their accompanying record collections in the mid-sixties kicked off a decade of absolutely unbelievable musical output. Then, in 1974, a sudden regime change brought a dusk-to-dawn curfew which effectively stopped the scene in its tracks. Fortunately, much of the music lives on in the Ethiopiques series, a brilliant document of Ethiopian music, from which the following tracks are culled. Enjoy!
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