Again, nothing schmaltzy about the subject of Ethiopian famine, but the song’s first line of defense against the issue is a level of cheese rarely heard before or since, peaking with the singalong outro: “Feeeeeed theeeee WO-ORLD!/ LET THEM KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN!”— A.U....
Mulatu Astatke is the undisputed king of Ethio-jazz, a style of music that blends jazz, traditional Ethiopian sounds, and Latin rhythms. The golden age of Ethiopian jazz occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, with Astatke at the forefront of the scene. The country’s capital city, Addis Ababa ...
we hear “13 Months of Sunshine,” a meditative instrumental that he likens to a palate cleanser, blending inspo from traditional Ethiopian music and Pink Floyd. In June, he made his U.S. TVdebuton Jimmy Kimmel, a feat that only a few of his Canadian contemporaries managed...
The title is sublimely generic; the “Ethiopian Quintet” credited as backing band is mostly Puerto Rican. Mulatu Astatke would become better-known for the records he made after returning to Ethiopia in the 1970s, but Afro-Latin Soul is trickier than it first appears. His idiosyncratic style,...
ambience, and open space; in some regards it’s more of an ethnography than an album, incorporating field recordings to create a sense of location. (The vinyl record of the album comes with an engraved topographic map of the Eastern Ethiopian lava fields on the reverse side to the music.)...
Born Abel Tesfaye to Ethiopian immigrant parents in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, The Weeknd dropped out of high school at 17 with his best friend and now creative director La Mar Taylor and moved out of his family’s home one weekend (wink wink). Homelessness, substance abuse and run...
Inspired by the dancefloor community that became absent throughout the pandemic, she exports the devotional music of her Egyptian and Ethiopian descent to match the vibrations and urgency of London’s underground scene. Having previously collaborated with the likes of Moses Boyd and Little Simz, “...
Sumney’sGraeand master Ethiopian bandleader Hailu Mergia’sYene Mirchaand Bad Bunny’sYHLQMDLG; others were stunning comebacks from old heroes like X and Toots and the Maytals. Nothing really ties the albums together, except they all gave me great joy, and I needed this music more than ever...
In his collaboration with reggae star Damian Marley, Nas made the sly decision to kick things off with a song that wasn’t reggae at all. “As We Enter” is based on an old Ethiopian funk jam from the late 1960s, thereby giving the music the international flavor that Marley and Nas we...
Again, nothing schmaltzy about the subject of Ethiopian famine, but the song’s first line of defense against the issue is a level of cheese rarely heard before or since, peaking with the singalong outro: “Feeeeeed theeeee WO-ORLD!/ LET THEM KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN!”— A.U....