Awesome Tapes … the hunt for Africa’s lost treasure trove of music
The peerless Éthiopiques series launched in 1997 by Frenchman Francis Falseto has popularised the sound of “1960s Ethio-jazz” by Mulatu Astatke and others. This set of contemplative piano solos from Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou is atypical but remains a tour de force, its beauty drawing on ancient Coptic sources, western classical and jazz. Lovely and lyrical.
“When I showed the tape to my friends in Addis Ababa, they told me that he is still alive and he is begging in the streets. A friend of theirs has a copy shop in the area
Piazza, which he visits regularly and they always buy him food and take care of him.” Another correspondent, writing from Ethiopia, provided more information: “A quite sad, but funny story for many people down here is from when Kweysha Seta was offered a contract for this album. Being illiterate, it was said he was fooled into signing it, not understanding that he would only earn 500birr (about $100 in 1991, rough guessing) for it. It became a big hit, maybe even bigger than expected, and the cover was reprinted several times.”
I suggest to Shimkovitz that this could be a contender for his next official release. Possibly, he says, but first he must go back to Africa in person. “This interest in this sort of music from around the world that at first sounds really wacky, it could just be a passing trend,” he says. “But it’s still what gets me excited.” All the time? “Well, I have pretty catholic tastes,” he admits. “I love Tchaikovsky and the Wu-Tang Clan. Sometimes I do just want to dance around my bedroom to Lady Gaga”
Read more from here
No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!