The very best of Ethiopiques

It is hard to quantify the depth and scope of the work by Francis Falceto and the Buda label in excavating Ethiopia’s rich vein of urban music. To mark ten years and 21 CD Ethiopiques releases by the Frenchman, Buda has assembled 28 gems from the golden age of a remarkably effervescent era in the Horn of Africa nation. Recorded essentially between 1969 and 1978, Ethiopian artists forged a unique musical identity that centred on Addis Abeba and was called Ethio-jazz. It developed in a period that one of its greatest fans, Elvis Costello, describes as such: “Much of (this repertoire is) from the glorious explosion of soulful, sorrowful and joyful music cut between the repression of absolute monarchy and the cultural insanity of the Derg regime.” *

This unique African music grew out of marching bands that tried to mimic their Western counterparts while adding elements of Rhythms ‘n’ Blues, funk and soul. Local artist mingled these American imports with their indigenous vocal styles, Ethiopia’s spine-tingling 6/8 tempo and some of the age-old instruments, like the krar, that mark the country’s unique history. For the past two decades, Falceto has resurrected these neglected treasures. For this, he drew from the recordings by Amha Eshèté who founded the Amha Records label in 1969. As the Frenchman describes in the sleevenotes, Eshèté took enormous risks in creating this label, since he defied both the all-controlling Selassie regime, and the bloody dictatorship that followed its downfall.

Eshèté was just one of several miracles that gave birth to this music. It was recorded by ingenious musicians, often self-taught, who had none of the engineering assets their Western counterparts could rely on. “The recordings were made with a minimum of technical equipment,” explains Falceto, “a two-track recorder, no recording or mixing and usually recorded in clubs where, because of the curfew, the dinner bands performed in the early evenings.” No wonder Costello rails against what he calls “the spoilt complaints of Western pop musicians” that, he says, “pale into insignificance compared to the defiant human spirit contained in these recordings.”

If listeners have become familiar with the distinctive voice of Mahmoud Ahmed, who deservedly contributes four songs to this compilation, Ethiopiques reveals a plethora of equally gifted local artists. For Ethiopians, even Ahmed does not match the magic of Tlahoun Gésséssè, for example and, on listening to “Kulun Mankwalèsh”, one can see why. We can also understand why Alèmayèhu Eshèté is dubbed Ethiopia’s James Brown as we gyrate to his “Tchero Adari Nègn”. For decades, this prolific singer symbolised the bridge between Afro-American music and the rock-solid traditions of Abyssinia.

Another bridge was more recently built by the inclusion of Mulatu Astatqé’s songs in the Hollywood film “Broken Flowers”. Falceto pays homage to this ingenious composer by including four songs by Astatqé. Ironically, as the French producer notes, the musician was quite atypical in the Ethiopian scene at the time and, since his glory days in the Sixties, Astatqé has stagnated, a victim of his ambivalent positions to the successive regimes that ruled his nation.

One can only regret the absence here of women artists who have also peppered the long history of Ethiopian music. In the series, Falceto has paid homage to the krar player Asnaqetch Werqu and the pianist Tseguè-Maryam Guébrou (who does find her way into this compilation), but there has been no room for the voices that inspired the likes of Aster Aweke and Gigi. We can only hope he reserves future releases for the likes of Bizunesh Bekele, to complete what is unquestionably one of the greatest collections of music from the multi-variegated Mother continent.

* The Derg junta, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, ruled over Ethiopia with an iron hand between 1974 and 1991. In 1975, the overthrown Emperor Haile Selassie, died in mysterious circumstances, some say at the hands of Mengistu.

August 2007

Daniel Brown