Release : Mulatu Astatke - Emnete EP
Artist : Mulatu Astatke
Album : Emnete EP
Genre : Jazz+Funk
Source : Vinyl
Label : Soundway
URL : http://www.soundwayrecords.com
Date : 2005-12-05
Quality : VBRkbps 44100 kHz Joint Stereo
Tracks : 4
Time : 13:51 min
Size : 13 MB
A1 Emnete 3:26
A2 Ebo Lala (Ft. Seifu Yohannes) 3:31
B1 Yekitir Tezeta 4:04
B2 Asiyo Belema 2:50
Afro-Latin, funk and jazz come together on this fabulous 10" from multi-talented
Ethiopian musician, composer and arranger Mulatu Astatke. Spiritual, soulful,
meditative grooves and raw, emotive musicianship over four excellent tracks.
This 10ö is a very high quality preview of what to come, a teaser for a far more
extensive Mulatu project later this year. In a nicely old-fashioned looking
cover Mulatu is portrayed holding his vibraphone sticks close. Note though that
Mulatu Astatke is just a bit more than a vibes player, ôHe is perhaps the most
important and influential multi-talented musician, composer and arranger to come
out of Ethiopia in the second half of the twentieth century. His inspired
synthesis of Jazz and Afro-Cuban styles with the ethereal musical traditions of
his home country has produced a body of work that stands alone in the fields of
spiritual jazz and soulful, meditative grooves.ö (Miles Cleret)
As a preview we get four songs, portraying the diverseness of this manÆs
arrangements. Drenched with priceless tance-like saxophones, Afro-Cuban
percussion and rhythms and cracking though not too explicit organs.
ThereÆs a man named Fela in the West, but the dazing way they make the sax sound
in East-Africa is simply stunning. Feel free to put, the battalion of saxes with
golden keys and steady drum as counterpart on 'EmneteÆ to the test.
æEbo LalaÆ on the other hand is a standout mixture of Latin rhythms with African
chant; originally a war song the chant works like a deep mantra that sticks in
the mind for days! Music wise itÆs closely related to æI Faram Gami I FaramÆ, a
track which will deservedly appear on the upcoming cd-album later this year, and
originally featured on the recently re-issued æEthiopian QuintetÆ album on
Worthy Records (1966, of which the photo in the liner notes served as cover
photo for this ten inch).
Traditionally sung by children as welcome for New Year, MulatuÆs interpretation
of æAsiyo BelemaÆ combines funky guitar riffs, building percussion and vibes
with the Ethiopian singing. Fucking better than hearing æJingle BellsÆ, I tell
you!
I think we can fairly say that what suadade is for Fado, duende for Flamenco,
tezeta (i.e. nostalgia) definitely is for Ethiopian music, and more in
particular for MulatuÆs sound. Therefore the rare æYekitir TezetaÆ with the
melancholic sax in a leading role is most relevant on this first single.
Massive respect goes out to Miles and Hugo from Soundway Records for
discovering, publishing and promoting these breathtaking sounds. Time after
time!
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