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________
openmind
who: Mamhoud Ahmed
what: Live In Paris
when: 000-00-0000
where: Long Distance
sound like: Ethnic
and on: nov.-07-2004
resulting in: 10 tracks
which makes: 98,2 MB
using lame at: VBR kB
and some more:
Biography by John Dougan
In Ethiopia the word is "eskeusta," which roughly
translated means ecstasy, more specifically it is a
shaking sensation that begins at one's shoulders,
quivering down the spine and into the legs and feet.
And of all of the great male vocalists that Ethiopia
has produced (don't laugh, there have been quite a few)
none are able to create eskeusta better than Mahmoud
Ahmed.
For 30 years Mahmoud Ahmed has deftly combined the
traditional Amharic music of Ethiopia (essentially a
five-note scale that features jazz style singing offset
by complex circular rhythm patters which gives the
music a distinct Indian feel), with pop and jazz
yielding some of the most adventurous, passionate,
ear-opening, downright surrealistic sounds this side of
the deepest, darkest, dub or the most out-there free
jazz. In fact, until you've heard Ahmed's sweeping
multi-octave voice in full workout, words hardly do it
justice. As with the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
he simply has to be heard to be believed and
appreciated.
Ahmed has been a star in Ethiopia almost since the day
he began recording. His swooping vocals, complimented
by the freewheeling jazziness of the Ibex Band (with
whom he recorded his masterpiece Ere Mela Mela) is very
different from what normally is lumped into the broad
expression afro-pop. The rhythms are repetitive and
intense, not too dissimilar from, say, Fela, just a
little less hard. But it's Ahmed voice: swirling high
notes that sound as if they're chasing one another,
impeccable tone and phrasing that is the distinguishing
element. By singing in this style Ahmed has attempted
to fuse the past and present. He's not an elitist when
it comes to singing older Ethiopian music but rather he
hears the similarities in Ethiopian pop that have
thrived over time and is keen to bring them together.
As the western critical attention to afro-pop centered
on the music of sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopian artists
like Ahmed and Hirut Bekele, Ali Birra, and Alemayhu
Eshete were less likely to receive coverage in the
music press. Recently, younger performers such as Aster
Aweke (who emigrated to the US in the mid-1980s), and
Netsanet Mellesse have received more ink thus opening
the doors for those so inclined to explore the music
that influenced the. And for those so inclined that
means becoming familiar with brilliant, demanding, but
unknown artists such as Mahmoud Ahmed.
Review by Adam Greenberg
This recording stems from a Paris concert in 1994 by
one of Ethiopia's brighter stars. Mahmoud Ahmed
provides a large lump of powerful vocals over the top
of a vaguely urban jazz/Afro-beat backing texture. The
intensity of the music is something to rival the Africa
70 or Egypt 80, with a pair of sax players dominating
the proceedings. Ahmed's vocals, though, are the true
star of the show, with the voice carrying over the top
of all matters and providing an outlet for various love
songs and melancholy pieces, with the spare festival
song thrown in for good measure. The music of Ethiopia
is generally not the upbeat soukous that people have
come to expect from African musicians, but this
recording is another iteration of such a trend. The
music is in many parts the complete opposite of upbeat,
and at its highest moments is still a distance behind
soukous in that respect. In terms of emotionality and
regality, it tends more to the side of religious and
semi-religious musics (notably Indian classical). Pick
it up for a nice look into the music of Ethiopia,
though there are others available at roughly the same
quality level.
track list:
│ 01 Yeshe3ga Lidj Neger
│ 02 Yaselame Lalo
│ 03 Lehesh Kabashen
│ 04 Tezeta Gasdew
│ 05 Wey Feger
│ 06 Endenesh Belulegn
│ 07 Tezeta
│ 08 Kuulum
│ 09 Mela Mela
│ 10 Desa
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