Ethiopiques - Erè mèla mèla

Description

From the very first two fascinating tracks on this astonishing album (“Erè mèla mèla” and “Mètché nèw”), you are drawn into the spellbinding, sultry, and ecstatic atmosphere of this Ethiopian pop, which developed, despite dictatorship and deprivation, throughout the 1970s. As the “enlightened despot” Hailé Selassié was dying, Mahmoud Ahmed recorded this album with his group Ibex Band. A highly expressive voice, music built on hypnotic and fascinating loops. A true discovery of a music that had until then been completely ignored (and rediscovered in the West around 1986). This exciting album is part of an exemplary series, “Éthiopiques,” which introduces you to more than twenty years of Ethiopian pop and jazz music. By far one of the best collections in the field of “world music.”