The Case of the Ethiopian Trance

This week is the rare case of an African music theme that steps outside of West and Central Africa. Today will feature a few stray songs from places like Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and even a field recording from South Africa... but mostly we will focus on music from Ethiopia's golden age of urban swing, the early 1970s.

I don't play Ethiopian on the show very much... in part because everything I own is from recent reissues; I'm not bringing anything exclusive to the table. But it's also true that Ethiopian music is a bit less approachable for gringo ears relative to most other African music I play. Working in a pentatonic scale (rather than the Western 12-note scale), and singing with a melismatic style that is uniquely Ethiopian, these songs are not exactly easy listening. But I know that Portland is home to some big fans of Ethiopian rare grooves (thanks as always to Mississippi Records for their ongoing attention to Ethiopian reissues). So I like to hit this theme every time there is a new batch of tasty reissues on the market; this is such a time!

You'll hear multiple songs today from 3 reissues that have hit the marketplace in the past few months:  "Ethiopian Hit Parade" and the Girma Beyene opus "Mistakes on Purpose" (both from the Heavenly Sweetness record group), along with a tasty Tilahun Gessesse reissue from Portland's own Mississippi Records. I round out today's set with (among other things) tracks from the 2013 compilation "Heavenly Ethiopiques" along with a few more samples from the recent Comb & Razor compilation "Calabar-Itu Road." 

This is a good set for hunkering down with the earphones... perhaps a mood enhancer? Join my trance on today's episode of the Adventures.