Asnakech
Brian Shimkovitz's Awesome Tapes From Africa (ATFA) imprint is set to release another stunner on November 16th. This time the musical protagonist is the late Ethiopian musician, actress, dancer and cultural icon Asnakech. As stated in the comprehensive liner notes, "there is perhaps no woman more cherished in modern Ethiopian history than Asnakech Worku, [who] inspired and challenged society for decades, until her death in 2011. From her beginnings as Ethiopia's first theater actress in 1952 to her acclaimed film appearances to her days as a club owner-turned-master musician, [Asnakech] earned endless accolades across the artistic spectrum." She also became internationally known for her mastery of the krar, or six-stringed harp, "one of the oldest and most iconic traditional instruments in Ethiopia and Eritrea."
Our first reaction to these distant, captivating and weirdly entrancing compositions was one of surprise. But as we listened, we became increasingly enthralled. As a matter of fact, this particular recording involves none other than legendary Ethiopian keyboardist and bandleader Hailu Mergia (check out his ATFA-reissued album "Lala Belu"): "In 1975, [Hailu] got a call from the owner of Misratch Music Shop to do a recording with Asnakech and he went for it. This recording is a nearly-forgotten artifact of the remarkable icon’s singular legacy, remastered and available outside Ethiopia for the first time. It also provides a rare glimpse into Mergia’s work as a arranger-sideman in the Addis Ababa music scene."
Needless to say, Asnakech herself as well as their collaboration left a lasting impression on Hailu Mergia, who shares his personal admiration and adds his "Memories of Asnakech" to the release's liner notes, which we highly recommend you read. This quote here concerns the actual songs on the release: "Some of the songs are traditional, some are her compositions. You can listen to songs like these at home with family, while sitting or reading, in the after-hours at the club, while you’re washing the dishes. When you’re driving, a bunch of people listen while driving. It depends what time when you want to listen. Some people they listen to this kind of love music when they have a good relationship, somebody passed away or somebody stopped dating each other and have emotional flashbacks to what happened in their lives."
You can stream/buy the full release on Bandcamp. There you will also find more in-depth biographical information as well a track by track description. Thank you ATFA and thank you Asnakech.
More posts
Roadtrippin'
Hot on the heels of an eventful summer, including another memorable show at Sziget, our Jewish Monkeys are well rested and ready to embark on another raucous roadtrip.
This Sunday (November 11th) they will rev up their musical engines with an exclusive gig at Frankfurt venue Das Bett, before they head off to the Netherlands next Wednesday (November 14th) to support the inimitable Disko Partizani and friend of the Greedy family Shantel and his Bucovina Club [...]
Vaudou Game
Late last week, Paris-based Hot Casa Records served up another burner as they unveiled the highly anticipated new album by potent French-Togolese afro-funk collective Vaudou Game, the brainchild of bandleader, singer and composer Peter Solo. Solo himself was born in Aného-Glidji, Togo, "the birthplace of the Guin tribe and a major site of the Voodoo culture". Meanwhile based in Lyon and backed by his band, he has channeled these ancient ritualistic sounds onto [...]
İstikrarlı Hayat Hakikattir
“Su Akyol’s voice is light but elegant, and her songs are by turns urgent, sultry and romantic and politically barbed. The new sound of Istanbul.” – The Observer
As trying as times in her native Turkey may be at the moment, Istanbul's Gaye Su Akyol is not one to shy away from the limelight or eschew artistic responsibility. With her first international, 2016-released album "Hologram İmparatorluğu" she quickly established herself as "one of [...]
Souvenirs De Togo
Paris-based collective Les Mains Noires are back with another fascinating mixtape. In August, My Old Friend Fred Martin embarked on a month-long record digging trip to the West African nation of Togo, along with Jean Toussaint of Les Diplomates.
There he unearthed another batch of African treasures from Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Benin, including two tracks by Togolese artist Ali Bawa.
He now compiled his best finds into a 45-minute mix, which you can listen to [...]
Gül Ahmet
Heads up, here comes a 'sazzy' freebie for you! Earlier this year we shared a one-off track by Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, taken from the strictly limited "Saz Power" compilation, released on Ironhand Records back in May. That being said, if you haven't yet checked it out, the selection features "eleven contemporary bands with saz-powered sounds from around the world, i.e. authentic sounds from distinctive saz minds".
This week, Polish combo MLDVA [...]
Toto Bona Lokua
Intrigued by the gorgeous album artwork, we just unearthed this equally inspiring and recently released musical gem on Parisian imprint NØ FØRMAT! by the wonderful trio Toto Bona Lokua. Composed of Gérald Toto from the island of Martinique, Richard Bona from Cameroon and Lokua Kanza from the Congo, this magical three-piece was quick to draw us in by its velvety cohesiveness. What struck us was the pure beauty of their vocal arrangements and utmost musicality [...]
Masana Temples
Tokyo-based "psychedelic explorers" Kikagaku Moyo first came together in the summer of 2012 as street buskers, but quickly evolved into a tight-knit collective of free-minded multi-instrumentalists. Their sound "incorporates elements of classical Indian music, Krautrock, traditional folk and '70s rock", but "encompasses a broad spectrum of influence" and experimentation. Freedom and improvisation are key as the Japanese five-piece builds bridges "between the [...]
Ghosts & Robots
Back in May Denmark's sample wizards Den Sorte Skole premiered their brand new audiovisual project "Ghosts & Robots" with three sold out shows at Copenhagen's grand Royal Theater (Det Kongelige Teater), treating audiences to "an experimental, dark and masterful piece of art combining music, sound, light-installation, video-projection and laser mapping" in collaboration with acclaimed Danish visual artist group Vertigo.
"A complex 'Gesamtkunstwerk' that showed [...]
Saigon Supersound Vol. II
Not too long ago we featured Frankfurt-based DJ, label head and electronic music pioneer Jan Hagenkötter's inspiring selection of "Golden Age" tunes from South Vietnam. Now "Saigon Supersound" returns with Volume 2, which this time focusses on the period between 1965-1975, during which a lively South Vietnamese pop culture emerged under difficult circumstances. You may see it as a continuation of Volume 1, which had not yet gathered enough material to tell the [...]
Nouvelle Ambiance
Berlin's Oye Records just hit our Twitter feed with a sweet recommendation by ways of Paris-based label Nouvelle Ambiance. The imprint dedicated to "celebrating musical and cultural collaborations" recently released a brilliant compilation of Pan-African underground sounds from 1980s Paris.
"In the early 80s a perfect storm of social, technological, political and cultural developments brought about a unique music scene centred around Paris, away from the major [...]
El Sudaca Contraataca
While browsing the web for more topics to share with you, we discovered this gem by Bogotà, Colombia based collective In-Correcto and couldn't believe our ears. Unravelling before us was a compilation featuring various seemingly local artist, creating a patchwork of sounds rich in tradition yet eerily modern in sound, ranging from alternative to experimental, downtempo and tropical. Titled "El Sudaca Contraataca", the Latin American Counterattack, this their [...]
Muslims & Christians
Following our recent recommendation of Berlin-based reissue label Habibi Funk's latest mix, we checked the imprint's Bandcamp page only to find ourselves drawn to yet another release, entitled "Muslims & Christians". And the story goes a little something like this:
While taking a closer look at the Sudanese jazz scene and the artist Sharhabeel Ahmed in particular, label head Jannis Stürtz began to dig deeper and eventually decided to fly to Sudan to further [...]